Dark Rising 2: The Devil You Know
by Ares
Summary: The sequel to Dark Rising: Call Of The Night. Chapter Ten: the result of a mad rush of uploading. Enjoy.
1. Chapter One

Okay, I realise that there were a few inconsistencies in my first story __

Okay, I realise that there were a few inconsistencies in my first story. There was no mention of the Danger Room in the movie, but I like the idea of the Danger Room so I kept it. Also, I'm a little unsure of Remy's history. Could someone please help me out there?

I don't actually remember who it was, but thanks for reminding me of Kurt's real eye colour, whoever you are. I tend to forget some small details. Thanks.

I know that when Logan left the mansion he took Scott's bike. But I decided I like Logan better with a truck, so he got a new truck. I have no idea what happened to the bike. You'd have to ask him.

Adam's accent is stronger than Dreamer's because he's lived in New Orleans his whole life. I realise that people with Southern accents come from other states but I can't remember any of them. Which is okay since I'm Australian so I don't have to know every single state. =) 

'Dark Rising 2: The Devil You Know' is set three months after the events of 'Dark Rising 1: Call Of The Night.'

Dark Rising 2: The Devil You Know

****

Chapter One

A teenaged boy walked through Central Park at eleven o'clock at night. He was fairly good-looking, with spiky dark blue hair and a lean, muscular body. From his rough, two-sizes-too-big clothing, it was obvious he was a runaway or a street kid. And from the way he kept looking around, he was either looking for someone or hiding from someone.

Sabrina Hunter growled to herself as she watched him. _((You made a mistake coming out here alone, Whitlock,))_ she thought venomously.

She stepped out of the deep black beneath the trees and snarled, "looking for someone, Dreamer?"

He turned and she gasped. Instead of the dark golden eyes she'd expected, this guy had purple eyes. Other than that, he was an exact match for Daniel Whitlock.

Composing herself, Sabrina smiled at the boy. "You looking for someone?" she asked. 

He gazed dispassionately at her with those strange purple eyes. "Ya maht say that," he said with a soft Southern drawl. Sabrina was a little surprised at that. What were the chances of running into not one, not two but **_three_** mutants with that self-same accent in good old New York City?

"Who're you looking for?" Sabrina asked. He pulled an old, torn photograph out of his pocket and showed it to her. Two blue-haired boys, about five and six, one with dark gold eyes, one with purple eyes.

"Who are they?" Sabrina asked, pretty curious by now. 

The boy smiled briefly. "Th' purple-eyed one is me, thirteen years ago. Th' othah one is mah brothah, Daniel."

__

((His brother. Blue hair, a brother with gold eyes… Damien might be interested in this kid…))

"I think I know someone who can help you find your brother," Sabrina said. "He's a guy I work for, Damien. I'm Sabrina Hunter."

"Adam Whitlock. Look, Miss Huntah, there's somethin' ya gotta know b'fore ya commit t'anythin'. Ah'm a mutant."

"That's not an issue. I'm a mutant as well, Adam, and so are most of the people I work with," Sabrina said. "Trust me, nobody cares whether you're different. What can you do?"

"Ah c'n get insahde people's dreams. An' Ah c'n repel telepaths. Ah don' lahke people snoopin' 'round in mah head."

"You'll fit in fine with my associates. And I know Damien will do his best to find your brother."

"Good. Ah've been lookin' f' him f' years. Sure knows how ta hide himself," Adam muttered. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Ah was afraid the FOH'd get ta him before Ah could. They're gettin' too serious 'bout all this f' mah likin'."

"I take it you're not fond of humans then," Sabrina said. 

Adam shook his head. "Got nothin' 'gainst th' decent ones. Folk like th' FOH, they're th' ones who really get mah blood risin'. Sometimes Ah just want ta kill 'em all."

"I know how you feel. I feel like that most of the time. And my employer understands that. If you come with me, we can find your brother and get revenge for all the mutants who have suffered at anyone's hands."

"Sounds good. Ah'll check it out, but Ah cain't make any promises 'bout stayin'."

"Understood. Before we go back to base, though, Damien wants me to pay a little visit. Want to tag along?"

"Why not? Where we headed?" Adam asked. 

Sabrina grinned. "Ohio."

@@@

Jubilee walked across the bare wooden floor of the mansion, heading up to her boyfriend's room to tell him to come for breakfast. She passed Scott and Jean's room on her way and smiled. The two newlyweds were off on their honeymoon, the wedding having been two weeks ago.

As she passed by the infirmary her smile vanished. Raptor was still lying in the bed, connected to so many machines, still in the coma she'd slipped into three months ago. Bobby was sitting by her side, keeping a silent vigil, the way he did every day. The only time he wasn't with Raptor was when he was searching for clues to her parents' whereabouts.

Jubilee brushed tears away as she continued walking. Most of the other students had come to terms with the fact that Raptor was unlikely to ever wake up, had gotten used to the sight of her motionless body lying in the corner of the infirmary. Jubilee never would.

Dreamer came out of his room just as Jubilee turned the corner. He took one look at her tearstained face and steered her into the room and sat her down on the bed. He knelt in front of her and said, "what's up, Jubes? This's th' first time Ah seen ya cry since…"

He trailed off. "It's Raptor, isn't it? Is she…"

Jubilee shook her head. "No. But I just can't believe she might be gone. She's been my best friend for years."

She sniffled. "I shouldn't be dumping this on you. I'm sorry."

"Don' worry 'bout it, Jubes. What else are boyfriends f'?"

She wiped her eyes, trying to stop the tears that refused to go away. "We should go down to breakfast. The others'll get worried if we're not there."

"Let'm deal. Raht now what ya need is ta talk ta someone, an' that's what Ah'm here f'. Ah know what it's lahke ta lose someone ya care about, Jubes. But there's still a chance that Raptor'll be okay. Jean wouldn't lie ta ya."

"But I feel so helpless. I can't do anything to help her and it's like the others don't care about her. Logan left the day after we were rescued for God's sake! Rogue doesn't even mention her anymore. Sometimes I feel like me and Bobby are the only ones that care what happened to her."

"That ain't true," Dreamer told her. "Rogue feels guilty cause Raptor was hurt helpin' her, an' th' others don' know what they're supposed to feel. As f' Logan, ya have ta understand that he didn't leave because he don' care. He has a lot on his mind, Jubes, ya know that."

Jubilee buried her face in his chest. Her reply was muffled. "I know. But I feel so alone with her like this."

Dreamer stroked her hair. "Ya're not alone, Jubes. Not while Ah'm here."

She sighed and rubbed her face. "We really should get down to breakfast. The others'll come looking for us soon and we're not supposed to be in each other's bedrooms."

"Bit of a strange rule, don' ya think? What with Jean an' Scott procreatin' a few floors up an' all."

"They just don't want the school to get a bad reputation," Jubilee said. 

Dreamer chuckled. "Jubes, th' place is full of mutants. As far as a lot of people are concerned, that gives it a bad rep. A l'il after-hours activity is nothin' compared ta that, believe me."

Jubilee smiled. "We'd better get down there," she said. "Scott and Jean might not be here but I'm sure one of the other teachers would come looking and I don't want to think about what they'd say if they found me in here alone with you."

"Wouldn't be any diff'rent ta what they said when they found us in th' pool at midnaht," Dreamer reminded her. "At least here we're both wearin' decent clothes."

Jubilee laughed. "I'll never forget the look on Scott's face! He looked like he wanted to kill us."

"Yah, an' he prob'ly would have if Jean an' Storm hadn't been there," Dreamer said, grinning. "Ah figure we gotta do **_somethin'_** to make life interestin' round here."

Jubilee wiped her eyes and stood up. "Come on. We really should get down to supper. I'm sure the Professor won't be happy if we cause another 'scandal' so soon after the whole pool incident."

Dreamer stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. "All raht. We should get downstairs b'fore someone realises that we're both missin'. Ah need ta talk ta Rogue 'bout somethin', anyway."

Jubilee stood up and straightened her clothes, which had gotten rumpled when she flopped down on the bed. She and Dreamer left his room and headed downstairs.

Halfway down the stairs, they ran into Aura. She grinned and said, "another couple of lovebirds, huh? You're the third I've seen, and it's only eight am. At the rate you're all going there's gonna be more than Jean and Scott's baby around here."

"So Kurt and Kitty were at it again huh?" Jubilee asked. 

Aura nodded. "Making out in the garage. And Rogue and Remy were making puppy-dog eyes at each other all through the video last night. Are you two going to become one of **_those_** couples?"

"Define 'those' couples," Jubilee said. 

Aura wrinkled her nose and laughed. "Um, okay, making out every chance you get, like Kitty and Kurt. Holding hands wherever you go and making eyes at each other, like Rogue and Remy. Having a baby, like Jean and Scott… well, you better not be doing **_that_**. The Prof and Storm would kill you."

"When's Storm gettin' back, anyway?" Dreamer asked. 

Aura shrugged. "I don't know. The Professor didn't tell me much, just that he located a mutant with Cerebro and sent Storm to check it out. They live somewhere in America, that's all I know."

The three teenagers went down to breakfast. Xavier smiled a welcome and turned back to his conversation with the other teachers. Kitty and Kurt were nowhere to be seen, which meant they'd gone off for breakfast alone somewhere.

Bobby was also missing, but everyone knew where he was. Upstairs in the infirmary, watching over Raptor. Praying for her to wake up.

@@@

Ororo Munroe had seen many things in her years. Some horrible, some miraculous, many things that other people would be hard-pressed to believe. But even she hadn't seen something like this before.

She was sitting in a car on the side of a quiet street in a small town in Ohio. Across the street, a group of boys and girls in their teens were playing soccer in a large grassy park. Several of them were obviously mutants, like the girl with light pink skin and a unicorn's horn sticking out of her forehead, or the boy with six fingers on each hand and tiger stripes on either side of his face. Yet the other teenagers treated them exactly the same as anyone else.

Storm smiled to herself. She'd found one place, at least, that didn't persecute mutants for being different. But she wasn't here to admire the open-mindedness of these people. From what Xavier had told her, one of these mutants could be in grave danger.

As she watched, the game seemed to end and the teams broke up into smaller knots of teenagers. One of them, a boy with long black hair tied back in a loose ponytail and black Aviator sunglasses, looked over to where a pile of bags were dumped against the fence. A bottle of ice-filled water floated out of one and into the dark-haired boy's hands. He called out, "I'm heading back, TJ. See you next week!"

TJ, a black boy, nodded and shouted, "see you, Solitaire."

Solitaire started across the street, his sports bag floating behind him. Storm was impressed. This boy obviously had telekinetic powers, but he was using them without even thinking, something that required a lot of control.

Solitaire suddenly stopped and looked around, as if he felt Storm watching him. He reached behind him and grabbed his bag, then continued to walk down the quiet street, now looking like any other teenager.

Storm nodded to herself. Solitaire was most likely the mutant Cerebro had located. What remained to be seen was why Xavier had gotten the distinct feeling the boy was in danger.

@@@

__

Where am I?

__

How did I get here?

__

Something's wrong… I can feel it. But I don't know what… what's going on… everything is so hazy, I can't see what's keeping me here, in this place of memory…

__

I remember… people. Laughing. And classes, classmates, learning, teaching, helping, loving, fighting, fear, sorrow, joy, anger, Bobby, Jubilee, Logan, Scott, Jean, Rogue, mutants, school, home, never home anymore, not anymore, love him, need him, hate her, must kill her, help me, god help me…

__

Damien, Dusk, oh God he killed Lance, he killed his own ally, must help, Rogue and Kurt hooked up to that evil machine, he kills so easily, if Jean dies Scott'll never get over it, what about the baby, God someone help us all…

__

Darkness. Lost. Someone show me the light…

@@@

Dreamer woke up with a start, gasping for breath. He glanced at the clock beside his bed; it was 2am. He looked over to Remy's bed, glad he hadn't woken up the Cajun. He'd gotten enough sleep to last him another few days, so he stood up and dressed quietly and went downstairs to the pool.

He'd started coming here a few weeks ago, when the dreams first started. Something about the absolute silence and the play of light on water calmed his mind and allowed him to go over the dreams, trying to determine whether they were a call from the vortal nexus or just normal, innocent dreams.

It was the fourth time in a row he'd had the same dream; a voice, calling in the darkness. A voice that was eerily familiar…

__

TBC. In Chapter Two, Logan! Storm and Solitaire have a problem involving Sabrina, and Bobby finds what he's been looking for…


	2. Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

****

Chapter Two

Storm had been following Solitaire for most of the afternoon. Solitaire had dropped off his things at home, then left and stayed out for several hours. He'd changed from sweatpants and a white polo shirt to black jeans and a black shirt, still with the black sunglasses.

The only things Solitaire had with him was his wallet and the pack of cards Xavier had seen earlier in the afternoon. He'd spent most of the afternoon at the lake, laying out the cards like a game, but instead of moving them around he simply looked at them, shuffled the rest of the pack and laid out a few more. He grimaced and swept the cards up, shoving them back into the cardboard pack.

A few people had come and spoken to Solitaire during the two hours he spent at the lake, but none of them had seemed threatening and they all left after five or ten minutes. So far, Storm hadn't seen anything that pertained to danger.

After a while Solitaire stood up and walked back to his house. A dark-haired woman was standing on the porch and the two talked for a few moments. Solitaire frowned and raised a hand to his temple. The woman looked concerned and said something that made Solitaire shake his head. Then he suddenly crumpled to the porch floor, holding his head.

The woman dropped down beside him and pulled out a cell phone. She spoke into the phone for a few minutes, then shoved it into her pocket. A few minutes later, an ambulance screeched up.

The woman said something to the paramedics, who nodded and switched off the siren.

Storm stared after the ambulance. Then she made her decision: she had to talk to Solitaire, no matter what was wrong. It could be something to do with his mutation or it could be unrelated, but she didn't want to find out why the Professor had sensed danger when he used Cerebro.

@@@

Logan glanced at the girl with light purple hair sitting beside him. _((Definitely too much time around red-eye,))_ he thought. He'd met the girl in New York and something had compelled him to offer her a ride.

She looked at him and smiled slightly. "Thank you for this," she said softly. "I only need to go as far as Professor Xavier's school, then I'll be out of your hair."

"What're you doing at the school?" Logan asked. The girl laughed. "I want to enroll. Not many schools take people like me. And I want to talk to the Professor about something."

"You're a mutant?" Logan asked. The girl nodded. "_Ja_. I'm empathic, and there are a few other things I'm not sure about. I heard that he might be able to teach me to control my powers."

"He will. The Professor's good at what he does," Logan said. "You know, you never did tell me your name."

"_Verzeihen sie_, I am Chantelle de Courcey. I'm from Europe," she said. She frowned. "You have a lot of pain inside. I can feel it. You lost someone special to you." _{I'm sorry}_

"How do you know?"

"My empathy tells me things. I didn't mean to pry, I can't help sensing what people are feeling," she said. Logan shook his head. "Don't worry about it. But I didn't lose anyone. Not yet."

"_Es verdad_? Someone is hurt, then?" _{Is that so?}_

"Yes. We're not sure if she's going to wake up," Logan replied, thinking of Raptor, still hooked up to all those machines. Chantelle closed her eyes for a moment and her hair suddenly shifted colour to light blue. Logan yelped, "what the hell is with your hair?"

"Oh, it changes colour with my emotions," Chantelle replied. "I can't control it."

"Why was it purple before and blue now?" Logan demanded. Chantelle answered, "because I was happy before, and thinking about death makes me sad. _Timor mortis conturbat me_." _{The thought of death disturbs me]_

She sighed and looked out the window. "How much longer before we get to the mansion?"

"Not long. Once we get off this road it's about half an hour or so," Logan replied. Chantelle grinned suddenly. "I can't wait to be somewhere where there are people like me," she said. "It's been ages since anyone's accepted me. My hair and the way I can tell what they're feeling makes everyone uncomfortable."

"You'll be accepted at the mansion," Logan said. "Trust me, even if you didn't want to be accepted, you'd be accepted."

Half an hour later, they pulled up in the driveway. Chantelle pulled her duffel bag over the back of the seat and climbed out of the truck, whisking her long crimson skirt out of the way of her boots. Dreamer was sitting on the front porch with Jubilee and called out, "ya always show up with a girl in ya truck, Logan. Somethin' we should know 'bout?"

Jubilee swatted Dreamer's arm. "Don't be mean," she scolded, grinning. Dreamer shrugged. "Cain't help it, Jubes. Seriously, it's good ta see ya Logan."

Logan slammed the door of the truck. "Can you guys take Chantelle to see the Prof? I want to check on Raptor."

Dreamer nodded. "Sure. Knowin' Logan ya've got th' wrong idea 'bout the Prof. Logan lahkes ta scare people," he added, standing up. Jubilee grinned. "I'm Jubilee, and this is my boyfriend Dreamer."

"Chantelle de Courcey. Nice to meet you," Chantelle said, her hair shifting to light purple with darker streaks. Dreamer and Jubilee didn't seem too surprised at the change of her hair. Dreamer said, "c'mon, we'll take ya ta the Prof. An' then ya c'n get th' "grand tour" that we all have ta go through."

@@@

Storm went up to the nurses' desk in Ward 7 of the small county hospital. She asked, "excuse me, is there a Max Jackson here?"

"Yes, there is. Room 2C," the nurse replied. "I think it's okay for him to have visitors now. Just don't turn on the lights, and be very quiet."

Storm nodded and headed to room 2C. The nurse called out, "wait a moment, ma'am!"

She brought a paper cup of water and three pills. "See if he can take these. They usually help."

"What's wrong with him?" Storm asked. The nurse frowned. "Didn't Doctor Rodeski explain it?"

"Yes, but I don't understand all that medical jargon," Storm said, wincing inwardly at the lie. But it worked. The nurse smiled and said, "I know how that feels. From what I understand, Mr Jackson gets migraines every month or so. They're supposed to be very painful, but usually he gets through them at home. This one was more severe than usual, so the doctor thought he'd better keep him in for observation until it passes."

"Thank you," Storm said, turning back down the hall to room 2C.

The door was closed and no light spilled from under it. Storm opened it carefully and entered. The room was dark, the blinds drawn across the window to block out as much sun as possible.

Solitaire lay motionless on the bed, an IV in one hand. His head turned as Storm entered and he whispered, "nice to finally meet you, Storm."

"How do you know my name?" Storm asked. The Professor hadn't thought Solitaire was a telepath, but maybe he'd been wrong. 

Solitaire replied, "I saw it in the cards a few days ago. Normally they aren't quite so detailed but sometimes I get… flashes that are really clear. And I saw you."

"Well, I'm not here to harm you. As you seem to know, my name is Ororo Munroe, though I am also known as Storm."

"Why are you here, Miss Munroe? I know I'm a mutant but I can control my powers enough to get by. I'm not really material for your school."

He groaned softly and pressed his knuckles to his temples. "Never been this bad before," he said hoarsely.

Storm frowned. "Solitaire, have you noticed anything… out of the ordinary lately?" she asked. The teenager shook his head minutely. "Not really. I've seen a lot of mutants, but that could be nothing…"

"How do you know they're mutants?" Storm asked. Solitaire replied, "I get flashes telling me. There've been more than normal."

"Solitaire, I think you're in danger. How soon do you think you'll be mobile?"

"Couldn't tell you. Could be hours to days," Solitaire replied. Storm shook her head. "We don't have that long."

A voice suddenly entered her head. **Hey 'Ro. Long time no see.**

**Sabrina, what are you doing here?** Storm demanded. 

The blonde girl laughed in her mind. **Just doing a job, Stormy. Playing a little game. Want to play?**

**What?**

**I guess you'd call it "Keep Away". Can you keep the boy away from me, my new friend and Dusk long enough to get out of town? If so, you get to save him. If not, Damien keeps him. Your choice.**

**What does Damien want with him?** Storm asked. 

Sabrina chuckled. **You really think I'm stupid enough to tell you our plans?** she asked scornfully. 

Storm bit back an angry retort. **How much time do I have?**

**Ten minutes to get him out of the hospital, Stormy. After that, who knows? Have fun.**

Her voice vanished. Storm turned to Solitaire. "I can't explain right now, but we have to go," she said urgently. Solitaire nodded. "Yeah, I heard."

"You… never mind, we can talk later. What's the fastest way out of here without alerting the nurses?" Storm asked. Solitaire sat up slowly and replied, "this is the ground floor, so if that door over there is unlocked we can go through the garden. We'll have to be quick, though. I haven't had the worst of this migraine yet."

"I have a car parked out the front," Storm said. "We have to hurry. I don't know what Damien wants with you and I'd rather not find out."

@@@

Sabrina sat at the wheel of the car Damien had bought for her, driving along a deserted road on the way back to New York. Storm and Solitaire had gotten away, as Damien had instructed her to allow them. Adam was sitting next to her, flipping through an old paperback that had been in the glovebox.

"What does this group do?" Adam asked. 

Sabrina shrugged. "Exactly what I told you, Adam. We get revenge for any mutants who have been harmed by FOH or other people."

"People lahke who? Ya've told me all this but ya nevah go inta detail. Don' ya think ya c'n trust me by now?"

"I trust you. I just don't think we should talk until we're certain it's safe," Sabrina said. 

Adam looked perplexed. "Safe from what? Th' big bad X-Men who c'n hear everythin'?"

"You could say that. You don't like the X-Men?" Sabrina asked. 

Adam replied, "Ah was kiddin', Miss Huntah. Ah've nevah heard of th' X-Men before. It was somethin' Ah picked up from one of ya dreams a few nahts ago."

"I forgot you can go into dreams. Don't go into mine again," Sabrina said. 

Adam shrugged. "Ah didn' do it on purpose, Miss Huntah. Sometahmes Ah get images from dreams that Ah don' look for. Ah'll try not ta do it again but Ah cain't promise it."

Sabrina turned back to the road. After a few minutes, Adam asked, "ya aren't old enough ta drive, are ya?"

"Not legally. But I have a fake ID that Damien had made, and everyone's believed it so far," Sabrina replied. Why? Can you drive?"

"Ya. Ah learnt a while ago. Ah thought Ah maht need ta if Ah was gonna fahnd mah brothah."

"You can take over at our next stop. I want to get back as soon as possible," Sabrina said. 

Adam nodded. "Fahne with me. Ah jus' want ta fahnd Daniel."

@@@

Bobby sat at the computer and typed furiously, searching on the Net for any clues about the whereabouts of Raptor's parents. He'd been looking for over two months, but he'd promised to find them for her and he intended to keep that promise.

Kurt and Kitty stopped by on their way to lunch. Kitty said, "Bobby, you've been cooped up here for hours. Come grab something to eat with us."

Bobby shook his head. "No, I'm fine. You guys go ahead."

He saw the concerned glance they gave each other and ignored it. Knowing Kurt and Kitty, they'd prefer to be alone anyway.

After another hour of searching, Bobby found what might be what he was looking for. He printed out the page and scanned it, a grin forming. "Yes. This is it," he said to himself, looking down at the page that held the information he'd been searching for.

He shut down the computer and went to find the Professor. He said, "sir, I think I found them."

"Found who, Bobby?"

"Raptor's parents. I found them."

Xavier scanned the paper and smiled. "Looks like you did," he agreed. Bobby said, "I have to get them here. She wanted them to see her before she… in case she didn't make it."

"Bobby—"

"I promised, Professor. Would you make me a liar?"

Xavier sighed. "I suppose you're right," he said. "But they're in Alabama, Bobby! How are you going to get there? And what would you say to them?"

"I'll figure that out when I get there. I have to do this, Professor."

"All right. But when you get back you'd better catch up on your schoolwork. You don't want to fall behind the others."

Bobby grinned. "Thanks, Professor."

He went to the infirmary to say goodbye to Raptor. Even though she was in a coma, he believed she could hear what was going on around her.

Raptor wasn't alone. Logan was sitting next to her bed, his duffel bag at his feet. He was talking to her, telling her what he'd been doing for the past three months. He looked up when Bobby entered and cracked a brief grin.

"Hey, Popsicle. What's new?"

"I found her parents," Bobby told Logan. "I'm bringing them back here."

"That's… that's great. When are you leaving?" Logan asked. Bobby replied, "as soon as I pack some things. I wanted to tell Raptor where I was going."

He gently kissed her cheek. "I'm gonna be gone for a while, but when I come back I'll have your parents with me," he promised. He turned to Logan. "Will you take care of her while I'm gone?"

"Of course. Good luck, kid."

__

TBC. Thanks to those who reviewed =)

In Chapter Three, Damien's 'minions' attack. Which of the students will be captured? You have to read and find out! Storm and Solitaire are heading back to the mansion. Damien meets Adam Whitlock…


	3. Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE ****

Chapter Three

Kitty and Kurt walked toward the gates of the mansion. They'd been to see a movie and it was almost ten-thirty. Kurt had his tail twined around Kitty's waist again, even though he wore the image of a normal human boy.

There was the sound of a twig breaking. Kitty shivered, not just from the cold breeze. She whispered, "what if there's something out there, Kurt?"

"I knew I shouldn't have taken you to see a horror movie," Kurt said. "There's nothing there. You're just jumpy."

Kitty looked around uneasily. "I don't know," she muttered, "something doesn't feel right. I don't know why we didn't just 'port back."

"Because you said that tonight's a power-free night," Kurt reminded her. 

Kitty shrugged. "I didn't want you 'porting out of the cinema just to get more popcorn," she said archly.

Another twig snapped. Kitty jumped and grabbed Kurt's arm. "You heard that, right? Now do you believe that there's something out there?"

Kurt nodded. "_Ja_, I think maybe you were right. Something doesn't feel right."

There was sudden movement and five mutants came out of the trees. Discordia, Dusk, Draconia, Sabretooth and Mystique.

"Take them," Mystique said curtly. The other four mutants came at Kurt and Kitty.

Kitty just phased through them, while Kurt teleported out of the way. Mystique laughed. "Surely you don't think we're so stupid as to try to take you with no plan," she said scornfully. "Discordia, if you would…"

The silver girl grinned and turned into liquid metal. She flowed across the ground, over to Kitty, and wrapped metal tentacles around the startled girl's ankles and legs. Before Kitty could phase away, Draconia flew over and snapped karamantium cuffs onto her wrists.

Dusk hadn't bothered to waste time. He just used brute strength against speed and agility. Kurt had been 'porting away from Sabretooth, and he hadn't seen Dusk behind him until the man had a knife at his throat.

"Don't even think of trying that teleport trick or your girlfriend will be sorry," Draconia hissed. 

Dusk snapped the white-metal cuffs onto Kurt's wrists and Mystique smiled. "Be good children and don't make this more unpleasant than it has to be. We have no wish to kill you, but Damien understands that sometimes prisoners can be… difficult."

"That bastard's still alive?" Kitty gasped. 

Draconia laughed. "Of course, silly girl. What, you think that attack Daniel Whitlock used would **_kill_** Damien? No, it merely incapacitated him temporarily. He was back to full health within a day."

"We don't have time for this," Discordia muttered. "If we're going to stand around here chatting all night someone will miss these two and come looking for them. Personally, I don't want to piss off Damien."

Draconia pulled two syringes out of the small bag hanging from a strap around her neck, sitting between her dragon wings. She tossed one to Toad and walked over to Kitty. 

"Don't worry, this won't hurt… much," she said, chuckling. She jabbed the needle into Kitty's arm and depressed the plunger. As the sedative worked, the two mutants simultaneously sent a telepathic call to anyone who could hear them. And then everything went black.

@@@

Rogue and Remy walked through the grounds of the mansion under the light of a full moon. Corny, but true. Remy draped his arm around Rogue's waist and she rested her head on his shoulder, sighing.

"It's such a beautiful naht, isn't it?"

"_Oui_, chere. Not as beautiful as y', though."

Rogue giggled. "Did Kitty and Jubilee talk ya into watching a chick flick or somethin'?" she asked. 

Remy nodded, grinning. "But I can' say non t' beautiful _femmes_ like y' an' y' friends," he said.

Rogue laughed. "I'm tellin' Kurt ya said his girlfriend was beautiful," she teased. 

Remy gasped melodramatically. "Non, not de elf!"

"Ya're the biggest flirt in the mansion, Remy LeBeau," Rogue scolded, trying to hide her smile. 

Remy grinned at her. "Y' love me anyway, _oui_, chere?"

"Ya, Ah do. Don' know why, but Ah do."

** Rogue, Remy, are you two nearby? **

Xavier's voice entered their heads suddenly. Rogue replied, ** ya, we're here. What's wrong? **

** Kitty and Kurt have been abducted and Logan can smell the mutants who kidnapped you and the others four months ago. I think you two should get back to the mansion as soon as possible, in case they try to take you as well. **

** Do ya need us ta do anythin'? **

** Just get to safety, Rogue. Logan and I can take care of this tonight. **

** Okay Professor. Be careful. **

Rogue sighed regretfully. "Looks like th' end of our moonlit walk," she said. "We'd better get inside like th' Prof said."

"Bit late for that," a cocky voice said. Prowler, Rebecca and Discordia stepped out of the bushes. Remy reached into his pocket for one of the playing cards he always carried, but Discordia melted into her metal form and was upon them before either mutant could act.

Prowler pinned Rogue against a tree, holding her wrists above her head. "You just keep those poison hands of yours to yourself," he warned. Rebecca snapped a pair of karamantium cuffs onto Rogue's wrist while Discordia did the same to Remy.

Rebecca pulled two hypodermic needles out of the pouch tied around her waist. She walked over to Rogue and bared the other girl's elbow. 

"Keep still and this won't hurt as much," the redhead instructed, jabbing the needle into Rogue's vein. The sedative was fast-working and Rogue and Remy were out within seconds.

Prowler smiled. "Damien will be happy," he said. "If the others were successful then we have all we need. For now, anyway."

@@@

__

I can hear something going on around me, but I can't see it. How long have I been like this, hearing but not seeing? Time seems so trivial here, but I know it's not. There's something I have to do…

__

Classes. I have to go to classes, study for my SATs… but isn't how all this started? We were all studying, and…

__

Pretty, black hair, my mother, Alice, Alice Hawke, my father big and shining and full of light and music, Apollo the god of music, Mark Hawke, just like Apollo and mother was like Artemis, strong and brave and caring…

__

Logan. I told you this, didn't I? I told you about my parents, when that metal girl stabbed me and I thought I was going to die… you didn't let me die then… brought me here, where I finally have a family, the way I've always wanted, but it wasn't Mother and Father, never them…

__

Where are you, Bobby? You told me you'd find my parents… are you looking for them? Did you keep your promise? You wouldn't lie to me, not you…

__

I heard you, not long ago, years ago, yesterday, tomorrow, you told me that you found them… I knew you would, you said you would and now you have, and they'll be here tomorrow, ten years, a minute, a lifetime…

__

Time is distorted. I can't think. Damage. Too much energy, but I had to give it to Rogue. She would have died, couldn't let her die when there was a chance to save her, God Bobby I'm so sorry, don't look at me like that, I'm not dying, I'll be back, you know that…

__

I used to be able to call animals when I was in trouble… can call Logan now, since the truck, but they can't help a girl in a coma, I don't know how to get back, I know that I have to find a way back into my own body but I don't know how…

@@@

Storm drove through a small town on the outskirts of Westchester, glancing in the rearview mirror to make sure they weren't being followed. Solitaire was asleep on the backseat, his sunglasses still covering his eyes. His migraine had gotten pretty bad the night before, but he seemed to be over the worst of it now.

Storm hadn't seen any signs of anyone following them since they left Ohio. It was only a few hours before they got to the school and she was glad. It was unnerving, not knowing what was behind her. Usually when she went up against their enemies she could see who she was fighting, or at least she knew something about them. They still didn't know much about Damien and his minions.

They didn't even know much about Sabrina, and she'd been in the school for the better part of six months. All they knew about her power was that she could shoot lasers out of her eyes, sort of like Scott's optic blasts, only Sabrina's blasts could actually burn. While she'd been at the school Sabrina had been a closed, private girl, rarely opening up. She'd been friendly with all the students, with the exception of Aura, but she didn't seem to like the teachers very much. Storm had always assumed it was because of the way she'd been treated at her last school, but maybe the truth was Sabrina had always known that she wouldn't be staying at the mansion.

She shook off the shiver that ran up her spine. Sabrina hadn't been clairvoyant; maybe she'd just had a problem with adults, teachers in particular. It had happened before, albeit never on this scale.

Storm sighed and turned her attention back to the road. Soon they'd be back at the mansion and they could try to figure out what Damien was up to this time.

@@@

Damien studied the screens in front of him, each one showing a different X-Man or student at Xavier's school. Discordia was beside him, hissing softly whenever she saw Logan or Raptor in a shot.

There was a light knock on the door and Dusk poked his head around the frame. "Sir, Miss Sabrina is back from the city. She has company," the big muscleman said. 

Damien nodded. "Good. Tell her to stay with her friend and I'll be out soon."

He turned to Discordia. "Study them. Learn everything you can. I don't want failure again."

The metal girl nodded. "Sir, about the four children? What exactly are they here for?"

"You'll find out soon enough, Discordia. Once I've welcomed our new guest, I'll brief you on your next mission. Until then, study the material we collected."

"Yes, sir."

Damien left Discordia in the large surveillance room and went down the corridors to the room he usually met new recruits in. Not that he bothered recruiting much; the last person he'd taken in was Sabrina, and only because Kylie had begged him to.

At first, anyway. Now he was glad he'd accepted the Australian teenager. She was smarter than any of his other servants, smarter even than Lance had been. Damien regretted the necessity of Lance's death, three months ago, but the other man had been getting cocky, believing he knew better than Damien. Dissention in the ranks was never good.

Damien entered the room. Sabrina looked up and smiled. "Good evening, Damien."

He looked at the boy sitting by her side. Younger than himself, older than Sabrina. Maybe eighteen or nineteen. Dark blue hair like that damned Daniel Whitlock, dark purple eyes. Muscular, already self-possessed and confident from two weeks spent with Sabrina as his guide, on that trip to Ohio to send the little message to Xavier. Damien wasn't sure why Sabrina had felt the urge to bring a stranger into the fold, but the boy looked so much like Daniel Whitlock it was uncanny.

"I'm Damien, Sabrina's employer,' he said, sitting across from the younger mutants. "Sabrina tells me you're looking for your brother. What can you tell me about him?"

"His name is Daniel. He looks a lot lahke me, but his eyes are dark gold, not purple. He's a year youngah than Ah am. Ah think he's been on th' streets since he was much youngah, but Ah'm not sure. Ah was injured in th' accident that killed our parents and we were fostahed out separately."

"I'll do the best I can to find him," Damien said. "Adam, what do you know about a place called the School for the Gifted?"

"That place f' mutant kids? It's run by that Xavier guy, an' all th' students are mutants. Why? Ya think Daniel maht be there?"

"It's a possibility. I'll look into it. Adam, I have to ask a favour. You see, there is a telepath who can get inside people's dreams, like you, and he's trying to find out where my people are. He has a grudge against us, I'm afraid. Do you think you could repel him?"

"Sure. Anythin' ta help."

"Thank you. Sabrina, why don't you show Adam around. I'll see how Daphne is doing with her study."

Sabrina grinned at his use of Discordia's real name. The metal girl had been christened Daphne, but she hated the 'bimbo name' and insisted on being called her chosen name.

When Damien returned to the surveillance room, Discordia was paging through the notes Sabrina had made after joining them. She frowned. 

"This Logan guy is insane," she commented. "Well, I already knew that from the way he drives, but now I think he's weird as well. According to Sabrina he spent four days worrying about that little animal-girl."

"They're soft-hearted, weak-minded fools," Damien said nonchalantly. "They're bound to want to rescue their kidnapped friends. It's their weakness, and we can exploit it."

__

TBC. In Chapter Four, Damien talks with Kitty and Remy. Dreamer tries an experiment to find the kidnapped mutants. We meet Raptor's parents. Review me please folks. It won't kill ya =)


	4. Chapter Four

CHAPTER FOUR

****

Chapter Four

Kitty's head felt like elephants had been playing football with it. She groaned and sat up slowly, holding her head and hoping her brains wouldn't fall out if she sat up.

"Mornin', chere."

Remy's thick Cajun accent was instantly recognisable. Kitty turned to look at him and winced at the jabbing pain in her skull. 

"Morning, Remy. Where the hell are we?" she asked. 

Remy shrugged. "No idea, chere. But we got dese damn cuffs on again, so I'm bettin' it's somet'ing to do with Damien and dat Augmentator t'ing again."

"Wonderful," Kitty groaned. Suddenly, she remembered what she'd been doing when she was captured — more specifically, who she'd been with. "Remy, have you seen Kurt? He was with me when I was captured."

"Non, chere. Y' de only one I've seen. Rogue's missing too. We were toget'er when we were attacked, not dat long after you two."

Kitty looked around their cell. It was almost identical to the cell she'd been in when Damien had captured them all before: white walls, bare white floor, two beds, a door leading to a bathroom. She was on one of the beds, Remy was sitting cross-legged on the other, playing with a deck of cards.

The door hissed open and Damien walked in. He smiled at the two prisoners and asked, "anything I can get to make your stay here more comfortable?"

"You can let us go," Kitty said. 

Damien laughed. "Except that, Miss Pryde. Surely you realise that I can't just let you go. Not until I have what I want, anyway."

"Where are our friends?" Remy asked. 

Damien replied, "elsewhere. They're both fine. And if you want them to stay fine you will both cooperate with me, one hundred percent. Is that understood?"

"Can we see them?" Kitty asked hopefully. 

Damien appeared to consider it. "Perhaps, if you all behave. I don't need you just yet, but I don't want any trouble or there will be consequences that aren't entirely pleasant. I may arrange for your friends to be brought here, or you to their room, if I'm feeling generous later on."

Kitty could sense that Remy was about to make some smart-ass remark, the way he always did when he was in shit with Scott or one of the other teachers. She kicked his ankle and smiled sweetly. "We'll be good. Just don't hurt Rogue or Kurt."

"I'm glad you see it my way," Damien said. "This doesn't have to be unpleasant. My people weren't exactly subtle in their carrying out of my plans, but I didn't expect subtlety. I expected results and I got them. However, I assure you that if you all behave none of you will be hurt."

He stood up and left the room, locking the door electronically behind him. As soon as the door was closed Kitty burst out, "be good my ass. This jerk deserves all that's coming to him when the others find us. And until then, we'll just have to make him regret he tried anything with us."

"Y' forgetting about Rogue and Kurt," Remy reminded her. 

Kitty shook her head. "For all the threats he makes, I don't think he'd really hurt any of us. We're too important to his plans, whatever they are, or he wouldn't have bothered giving us relatively nice cells — together — or coming and telling us that Kurt and Rogue are okay. If he really didn't care, then he'd make us worry about them."

"Y' got de mind of a criminal mastermind, Kitty."

@@@

****

Storm gazed around the den, going over the students and making sure nobody else was missing. It was bad enough that Kitty, Kurt, Remy and Rogue had been taken so close to the mansion, she didn't want anyone else to be kidnapped.

Scott and Jean had gotten back that night, just after Storm and Solitaire, and were sitting on the couch together, Scott's arm wrapped protectively around Jean's shoulders. Both looked a little stunned. Storm didn't blame them. Nobody had expected Damien to attack this soon, and she had privately hoped that Dreamer's mental attack would kill the other man. Apparently not.

Logan was leaning against the wall, facing the door, a dangerous expression on his face. The students looked more than a little freaked out, especially since they didn't know why they were all there yet. The only one who looked calm was Chantelle, but her hair, which had turned yellow, betrayed her fear.

__

((All right… Bobby's on his way to Alabama, so there's not much we can do apart from check on him. Catherine, Debbie, Richard and Simon are on that trip to Spain, but they weren't here three months ago so they probably aren't in danger. Solitaire's sleeping off that migraine, and the Professor can probably pick up on Damien's people with Cerebro if they try to come here again, but I don't think he can find Rogue, Remy, Kitty and Kurt with Cerebro this time. Damien will have learnt from his past mistakes.))

Aura asked, "Miss Munroe, what's going on?"

"Remy, Rogue, Kitty and Kurt have been kidnapped, probably by Damien," Storm said. "Until we find out where they are and how we can get them back, I don't want to take any chances. Nobody should go outside the mansion grounds without at least two other people with them, and not without telling either myself, Jean, Scott, the Professor or Logan where you're going and when you plan to be back."

"If you see or hear anything suspicious let us know," Logan added. "We're gonna be trying to find the other kids so we need to know if there's anything going on that seems strange."

"We can't count on using Cerebro to locate them," Storm said. "Those karamantium cuffs make it virtually impossible to track the brainwaves that make mutants stand out from humans. We were lucky last time, but I doubt Damien will give us that advantage again."

"Miss Munroe?" Dreamer said tentatively. "Ah might be able ta find out where they are. An' Ah don' have ta use Cerebro."

"Your dream-power," Aura exclaimed. 

Storm frowned. "I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you're trying to say."

"One of mah powers is th' ability ta get inside people's dreams," the blue-haired teenager replied. "It's th' reason Ah'm called Dreamer. If they have any idea where they are, Ah'll be able ta find out."

"Would you be in any danger?" Jean asked. 

Dreamer shook his head. "No more'n dreamin' could hurt ya. Only ya'd have ta drug me. Ah don' sleep more'n a few hours a week an' Ah cain't make mahself sleep more'n Ah have ta."

"All right," Jean said. "I suppose you can't be hurt in a dream. If you're sure you want to do this."

"Ah'm sure. They're mah friends. Ah have ta do what Ah c'n ta help them."

Jean, Scott, Storm, Dreamer and Jubilee headed up to the infirmary. Jean had insisted that the 'experiment' be done there where she could monitor Dreamer's heart and brainwaves in case something went wrong. Jubilee had refused to let her boyfriend do this alone, even if she couldn't exactly go into his mind with him.

Jean measured up a dose of sedative. "All right, this should be enough to keep you out for an hour or so. Are you absolutely certain you want to do this, Dreamer? Nobody would blame you if you backed out now."

He looked nervous but shook his head. "Ah'm th' best chance we've got raht now, Dr Summers-Grey. Ya an' th' other telepaths cain't get through th' interference from those karamantium cuffs Damien has. Ah c'n get past pretty much any mental block he tries 'gainst me."

He was sitting on one of the examination beds set up in the infirmary. Jubilee was sitting next to him, a scared expression on her face, her right hand holding his left hand in a death grip. He smiled at her. 

"Don' worry, Jubes. If there's any danger at all Ah'll wake up. Survival instinct kicks in when ya dream. Ah'll be fine."

Jean stuck the syringe into his arm. Dreamer lay back on the bed and let the drug do its work, felt his limbs grow heavy. His subconscious pulled away from his unresponsive body. He could 'see' all the other conscious minds clustered around his: Jubilee, Storm, Jean and Scott. He drifted past Raptor's bed and jolted back, startled. An image seared into his mind.

__

…Bobby and Raptor, sitting on the grass in the mansion grounds. Raptor was laughing at something Bobby had said…

Memory! And memory couldn't be present without consciousness. He made a mental note to talk to Jean about this and moved on.

He sent out probes to locate Kitty, Kurt, Rogue or Remy. If any of them was sleeping he could find them. And maybe do a little snooping around… wherever they were.

He found the echoes of Rogue's mind first and followed the trail to the vortal nexus where he could speak mind-to-mind with the other Southerner. Of course, it would be much easier if he could find her dream. He grasped the strands of her subconscious and pulled the image. 

It flickered like a bad recording and he couldn't stay focused. _((They must be wearin' those cuffs,))_ he thought. Nothing else would cause so much interference.

He tried again to enter Rogue's dream. He bumped into a barrier that raced along his nerves and electrified his mind. He pulled away, gasping. Nothing he'd ever come up against had been so powerful.

A voice suddenly appeared out of the vortal nexus, speaking the way Dreamer did in dreams. D'ya really think Ah'll let ya by? Ya mus' be dumber than ya feel.

The voice stirred memories that Dreamer had thought were long buried. He pulled away from the vortal nexus, spinning out of control through the subconscious astral plane.

As he plunged back into his own body, he vaguely saw Jean's worried face. As his consciousness dimmed, he thought, _((maybe this wasn't such a good idea…))_

@@@

Bobby looked at the slip of paper in his hand, then at the address on the house. They were the same. This was the place.

He knocked on the door and a woman in her late thirties answered. She had black hair cut in a bob and dark eyes. Raptor looked like a younger version of her.

Bobby's throat was suddenly dry. The woman asked, "can I help you, young man?"

"Alice Hawke?"

"Yes, that's me. What can I do for you?" she asked again. 

He replied, "I think I have some important news for you, Mrs. Hawke. Maybe you should sit down."

"Please, come in," she said, moving back. "I'll get my husband."

She called, "Mark! We have company," and a man a few years older than her entered the room. He was also black-haired and dark-eyed. He shook Bobby's hand and all three sat down.

"Mr. Hawke, Mrs. Hawke, did you ever have children?" Bobby asked. 

Alice replied, "when we were much younger, we had a baby girl. She disappeared when she was six and we never found out what happened to her. She'd be about seventeen now."

"What was her name?" Bobby asked. 

Alice smiled. "Anastasia. I used to tell her stories about how there was a land made of fairy floss and sugar, where the angels lived."

"I know this is going to be hard to believe, but your daughter is alive. I know her. And if you want I can take you to her. She lives with me and other mutants at Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted. But you need to know, she **_is_** a mutant."

"Why should that matter? We have to go to wherever this school is," Mark said. 

Bobby hesitated. "Mr. Hawke, Mrs. Hawke, Raptor was injured a few months ago. She's in a coma. We're not sure she's ever going to wake up."

Mark looked Bobby in the eye. "Mr. Drake, whether our daughter lives or not, I want to see her again. I believe that she'll recover. Nothing ever got her down when she was a little girl, and I always said she'd be a tough teenager. But if she doesn't make it, I want to see her before she dies."

Alice nodded wordlessly. Bobby smiled. "She thought so when she asked me to find you," he said. "The school is in Westchester, just outside New York. We can get the first plane out."

"I'll ring for tickets," Alice said. She stood up and went into the kitchen. 

Mark said, "if my daughter asked you to find us, she must trust you."

"Yes. We were very close," Bobby said. 

Mark smiled. "I remember what she was like as a little girl. I still carry a picture in my wallet, even after all these years."

He showed Bobby a small picture of a dark-haired girl with solemn black eyes, about four years old. She was wearing a pink sundress and lilac sneakers. Bobby smiled. "I can't picture Raptor like this. I knew her as a teenager, not a little girl."

"And I knew Anastasia as a little girl, not a teenager," Mark said. "I can't thank you enough for finding us and telling us about Anastasia. You don't know the hell we've been through trying to find her."

"What happened?" Bobby asked. 

Mark sighed. "We were living in a communal home, and not all the people in the neighbourhood thought it was a good place for a little girl to grow up. We never found any proof, but I know one or more of them took Anastasia and put her up for adoption in a 'better' home."

"Well, you've found her," Bobby said. "She wanted to meet you all her life, from what she told me. I promised her I'd find you."

Alice came back into the living room. "We're on the red-eye flight to New York tonight," she said. "We have a few hours to pack. We can get the rest of our things sent over to New York later if we decide to stay there."

She looked over to Bobby. "I took the liberty of booking a ticket for you as well," she said. "It's the least we could do after you returned our daughter to us."

@@@

Jubilee glanced down at Dreamer, a worried frown on her face. Aura was sitting a few metres away, playing with a strand of red-and-green hair, watching Jubilee pace.

Dreamer was still unconscious, even after six hours. His face was unnaturally pale, and his breathing was slow and shallow. The two girls hadn't left the infirmary since he'd collapsed after the monitors had gone nuts.

Jean came in and Aura practically leapt on her. "He's never been out this long before! What if something went wrong?"

Jean replied, "while he was trying to contact the others, his heart-rate, pulse and alpha brainwaves were higher than normal. His body and mind were under a lot of pressure and he needs time to recover. I'm sure he'll be fine."

She glanced at Jubilee. "Why don't you two go get some sleep? It's almost midnight. I'll tell you when he wakes up."

Jubilee nodded. "Yeah. Probably a good idea," she said slowly. She and Aura left the infirmary.

Instead of going to their rooms, they went to Dreamer's and sat on the bed. Aura sighed, "I've never seen him this bad before. I mean, I've seen him after an attack, I've seen him at his worst, but that was nothing compared to this."

Jubilee nodded. "But Jean's right. He'll be okay."

She picked up an old, torn photograph that was lying on the table. "Hey, who's this?" she asked, looking at the two boys. Both blue-haired, about five and six. The older-looking one had purple eyes, the other dark gold eyes. 

Aura looked at the picture and replied, "that's Dreamer and his brother."

"Brother?"

"Yeah, Dreamer has a brother somewhere. Their parents were killed in an accident when Dreamer was six and his brother was hurt pretty bad. By the time he got out of hospital Dreamer had already been fostered out."

Jubilee looked at the picture again. The two boys looked a mix of happy and sad, as if they knew what would happen not too far in the future. Aura pulled her hair into a ponytail and said, "we'd better do as Jean said. If someone **_does_** attack we don't want to be dead on our feet. That's a sure way to get killed."

TBC. In Chap. 5, Dreamer wakes up, Adam and Discordia break into the mansion, Remy and Kitty talk. Review me PPLLEEAASSEE!


	5. Chapter Five

CHAPTER FIVE ****

Chapter Five

It was morning before Dreamer finally woke up. The first thing he was saw Jubilee, fast asleep in the chair next to the bed. Jean was on the other side of the room but almost as soon as he woke up she came over. Jubilee woke up when Jean stopped beside Dreamer's bed.

"Don't ever scare me like that again!" she exclaimed. 

Dreamer sat up in bed, trying to avoid Jean's gaze. "Sorry, Jubes, but Ah didn't know it'd have that effect on me. Normally Ah cain't get hurt in dreams. Somethin' there interfered with mah subconscious ties. Ah don' know who they're usin', but there's a dreamseeker there."

"A dreamseeker?" Jean repeated. 

Dreamer nodded. "Yah, a mutant with powers lahke mahne. We c'n do a lot of damage if we have th' raht motivation. Ah'd hate ta see what this one could do if he was really aimin' ta kill me. As it was, he jus' wanted me outta there."

He winced. "Sure got me good though. Ah've nevah seen anyone with so much power."

Jean quickly checked him over and said, "well, you're not injured, thank god. I want you to take it easy for a few days though."

"Whatever ya say, Doctor," Dreamer said, grinning. 

Jubilee punched his shoulder. "Don't tease Jean," she scolded. 

Dreamer laughed. "But it's so easy."

Jean left the infirmary after telling Dreamer he didn't have to stay in the infirmary but he'd better take it easy for a few days. She went up to the students' rooms and knocked on Solitaire's door. The teenager didn't answer but she felt a welcoming thought in her head. She shrugged and opened the door.

Solitaire glanced up as she entered, rubbing his temples. "Morning, Mrs. Summers-Grey," he said softly. "Nice to finally meet you."

"Are you feeling any better?" Jean asked. Solitaire nodded. "It's just about over now. The headaches never last more than a few days."

"Well, the Professor would like to see you as soon as possible," Jean said.

"All right."

"Do you need someone to show you where his office is?"

"No, I know where it is," Solitaire replied. Jean frowned. "How?"

"I… I don't know. Ever since I was young, I've never gotten lost, not even hiking in the mountains. I just know where things are, where I have to go," Solitaire said.

He stood up and pulled on a black jacket. "I better get going. There's some stuff I have to do after I see the Professor," he said, walking out of the room. Jean shrugged and went outside to find Scott.

@@@

Adam watched as Discordia silently moved ahead of him, her body shifting into a brown-haired guy wearing a pair of red-lensed sunglasses. She looked her over her shoulder and said, "you ready? If anyone asks, I'm Scott Summers, codenamed Cyclops, only you're not supposed to know my codename cause you're a new student. Kay?"

Adam nodded and kept walking. Discordia freaked him out sometimes, but even she wasn't as bad as Dusk could be.

They were in the grounds of Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted. Damien had told them to check out Adam's brother's room and see if there was anything useful. Any other places that they could get to, they were to search, but they had to be careful, especially in the middle of the day. Most of the students would be in classes but they still had to stay out of sight as much as possible.

They walked right through the front door. Adam was unconsciously holding his breath; he'd heard about this place but never dreamed he'd be breaking in. Okay, so it wasn't technically "breaking" but it was the same thing.

Discordia wriggled her shoulders and shook her head. "Damned male bodies," she muttered. "How can you be comfortable in this? It's… never mind."

She glanced at the piece of paper with directions to certain rooms written on it. Sabrina had told them about the Danger Room and all the other places that might have useful information.

"Your brother's room is on the second level," Discordia said. "You want to check it out?"

"Why not? There maht be somethin' we c'n use," Adam replied. "We bettah not be too long though. Th' longah we're here, th' more chances of someone findin' out we're not who we say."

Discordia nodded. "You're right. Let's go to that Danger Room Sabs told us about, then we'll check out your brother's room, maybe the Professor's office if he's not there, and then we'll scoot."

They headed up the stairs, following the carefully written directions Sabrina had given them. The blonde Australian girl had wanted to come on this mission, but Professor Xavier knew what her mind felt like and the risk of someone recognising her was too big.

Adam rubbed his temples. Discordia glanced back and asked, "you okay?"

"Ah'll live. Someone tried ta get inta th' facility through th' vortal nexus last naht. Gave me a li'l headache, that's all."

When they got to the Danger Room Discordia shifted back into her own body, went up to the computers and pressed her hands against the screen. She closed her eyes and information whirred over the screen, too fast to be seen. Adam knew she was absorbing the information in condensed form and that she'd sort through it later.

After a few minutes she removed her hands and turned into the guy with sunglasses again. "Got all we need from the computers. Let's check out the room now."

Outside Adam's brother's room, Discordia leaned against the wall and shifted into the mutant Sabrina had ID'd as Logan. She grinned and said, "I'll look out. You search. Don't take too long."

Adam slipped inside the room, which was surprisingly neat, especially since two teenaged boys lived there. He picked up a torn photo and looked at the same image he saw every day when he opened his wallet: two dark-haired, solemn-faced little boys, one with dark purple eyes, the other with dark gold eyes.

He replaced the photo and continued searching the room. There wasn't a lot of personal stuff for either of the occupants, but he did come across a thick leather-bound book. A diary.

He scooped up the book and left the room. Discordia was still leaning against the wall, absent-mindedly morphing her hand into several of its aspects; serpent, blade, metallic hand and back. She glanced up as Adam left the room.

"Find anything?"

"Nothin' that'll help us 'gainst these folks. But Ah found somethin' that maht help me understand mah brothah bettah."

"Whatever. Let's get out of here. Being in guy bodies is giving me the creeps."

They left the mansion undetected. Discordia shifted back into her own body and got into the car they'd left parked a little way down the road. She tossed Adam the keys and said, "you drive. I'm going to sort out the information I got from their computers."

She closed her eyes and let her body turn to metal. Adam started the car and they drove away from the mansion.

@@@

Later that day, Jubilee, Aura and Chantelle cornered Dreamer and begged him to drive them to the mall. Aura said, "you're the only student who can drive, and the teachers are all freaking about Kitty, Kurt, Rogue and Remy. We figure there's not much **_we_** can do. I mean, we're just teenagers. What are we supposed to do against someone like Damien? And anyway, shopping's no fun with teachers."

Dreamer ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "Ah know Ah'll end up regrettin' this," he muttered. "Ya got th' okay ta leave th' mansion?"

Jubilee nodded. "The Professor was talking to Solitaire, but Jean said we could go as long as there were more than three of us. If you drive us then it'll be safer and there'll be four of us."

Dreamer sighed again. "All raht. Ah'll go find th' keys f' one of th' Jeeps. Meet me in th' garage in ten minutes."

"_Arretez_, we need longer than that to get ready," Chantelle protested. Dreamer raised his eyebrows. "Ya got ten minutes, Channy. Mah offer ends after that." _{Stop/wait}_

The three girls were standing next to the Jeep ten minutes later, each with assorted tiny bags, purses and sunglasses. Dreamer shook his head. "Ah'll nevah understand why girls need so many accessories," he muttered. "C'mon, let's get goin'."

Jubilee rode in the passenger seat while Chantelle and Aura sat in the back. The three girls chattered all the way to the mall, mostly about guys, movies, clothes and which guy at the mansion was hottest.

"C'mon, you can't tell me Bobby doesn't have a hot butt," Aura said. Chantelle shrugged. "_Nyet_, I haven't seen him, so I can't tell. Personally, I think Kurt's pretty yummy."

"He's Kitty's," Jubilee piped up from the front. "Besides, you both know who I think is hottest."

"Kurt's cute, but he's not my type," Aura said thoughtfully. "Scott's kinda cute for a teacher. And Logan has that rough-tough gorgeous-ness."

"Mmm, I love his eyes," Chantelle added. "So dark and tortured… I love the tortured-soul type. Kinda like you, Dreamer."

"Hey, stay away from my guy," Jubilee said, fake-menacing. Chantelle laughed. "_D'accord, verzeihen sie_. Don't worry, I'm not about to encroach on your territory." _{I agree, I'm sorry}_

By the time they arrived at the mall, Jubilee, Aura and Chantelle had analysed every guy at the mansion. Dreamer pulled the Jeep into a parking space near the entrance and said, "how long d'ya figure y'all gonna be?"

"No idea," Jubilee said cheerfully. "Come with us."

"Do Ah look lahke an idiot, Jubes? Ah know what y'all lahke when ya go shoppin'. Ah'm not gonna get inta that."

"_Im gegenteil_, you have to protect us," Chantelle said, putting on a fake little-girl voice. "On account of how we're so fragile and defenseless. Besides, whoever took Kitty, Kurt, Rogue and Remy might be after us. We shouldn't separate." _{On the contrary}_

"Fahne, Ah'll come. Just don' expect me ta start talkin' girly f'ya," Dreamer said. Jubilee gave him a mournful look. "Not even for me?"

"There's some things even Ah won't do, Jubes."

The girls power-shopped for several hours, visiting each store at least once. Finally, at about four o'clock, they stopped at an ice-cream bar before heading back to the mansion.

Jubilee had five bags at her feet. Aura carried three and Chantelle had six. Jubilee grinned at Dreamer. "You have fun?"

"Remind me nevah ta agree ta take y'all ta th' mall again, Jubes."

When they finished their snacks Dreamer drove them back to the mansion. On the way, Jubilee snuggled up to him and said, "I love having a boyfriend who can drive. You're the greatest. I can't see Bobby taking us shopping."

"No, Ah think Bobby's sane," Dreamer said, grinning. "Nobody in their raht mahnd would take three teenaged girls shoppin'. Ah musta had a momentary lapse o' sanity."

They pulled up in the mansion's driveway half an hour later. Jean was waiting, a concerned expression on her face. As soon as Dreamer got out of the Jeep, she said, "Dreamer, would you be willing to try to find the others again?"

"Of course. But Ah cain't get past their dreamseeker," Dreamer protested. Jean replied, "Solitaire says he might be able to help with that. Come on, I'll explain in the infirmary."

@@@

Kitty paced the length of the room impatiently, hitting the wall each time she reached it. Remy watched her as he laid out a game of solitaire with his ever-present cards.

"Y' ever gonna sit down, chere?" he asked. Kitty shot a glare at him and snapped, "I'm bored. I can't spend all day playing card games."

"We could play a more interestin' card game," Remy suggested. Kitty raised her eyebrows. "Like what?"

"Strip poker?"

"Remy LeBeau, don't even think about it! I am so telling Rogue you were hitting on me," Kitty shrieked. Remy held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I was kiddin', chere."

Kitty sighed and resumed her pacing. "I am so **_bored_**. I want to get out of here."

"So maybe we should try," Remy said. Kitty stopped pacing and looked at him. "How?"

"I don' know. Y' haven' got a hairpin so I c'n try t' unlock dese cuffs?"

Kitty fumbled in her hair and pulled out a pin. "Here. You can really pick the locks on these things?" she asked. Remy took the hairpin and shrugged. "Maybe. I've never tried t' do somet'in' like dese b'fore, but I got int' plenty of ot'er places. More complex locks dan de ones at de mansion."

"You're kidding."

"_Non_, chere, I'm not. How do you t'ink we survived on de streets before Jean brought us to de mansion? Dreamer an' me, we were thieves f' the most part. Aura made diversions wit' her illusions, me an' Dreamer'd get int' places an' clean 'em out," Remy said. Kitty looked surprised. "Weren't you ever caught?"

"Wit' Dreamer's senses? He c'n sense humans a mile away, chere. Sometimes dere'd be witnesses, but Aura always changed de way we looked jus' b'fore de job. _Non_, nobody ever got close t' catchin' us."

"This is the most any of you three has ever said about your past," Kitty said thoughtfully. "You never talk to us about your life before the mansion."

"Not much t' tell, chere. But now ain't de time. I t'ink Aura an' Dreamer might not want everyt'in' t' come out jus' yet."

"But you can trust us," Kitty said. "Don't you know that?"

"_Oui_, chere, we know. But it's harder f' us t' trust dan y' might t'ink. Dere's a lot y' don' know about our past," Remy said, his red-on-black eyes darkening with memories he'd rather forget.

Kitty frowned. "Well, okay, but you know keeping things cooped up inside you isn't going to help, don't you?"

"Don' worry about us, chere. We been alone longer dan I c'n remember. We'll deal wit' it."

"But you're not alone anymore," Kitty protested. Remy smiled wearily. "Maybe not in some ways, petite, but in de ot'er ways we are. Old habits, dey die hard. We can' jus' forget everyt'in' livin' on de streets taught us."

__

TBC. In Chapter Six, Solitaire and Dreamer "look" for the missing mutants. Dreamer goes inside Raptor's subconscious, where she has to fight some demons…


	6. Chapter Six

****

Chapter Six

Jean glanced at Solitaire as she and Dreamer entered the infirmary. He was sitting at a stainless steel table, a pack of what looked like Tarot cards in front of him. She couldn't see his eyes through his ever-present Aviator sunglasses, but he still looked tired.

"Th' Doc said ya maht be able ta help us out," Dreamer said, sitting down on the edge of one of the examination beds. Solitaire nodded. "Yeah, I heard that you tried to contact the others through the vortal nexus. I figured that wouldn't work, since they have a dreamseeker like you said. But you had to search through the vortal nexus because you weren't sure where they were, didn't you?"

"Yah, if Ah don' know where ta look Ah have ta do it th' long way," Dreamer affirmed. Solitaire asked, "if you had an exact location, would the dreamseeker be able to stop you?"

"Prob'ly not," Dreamer replied. "If Ah had th' exact location of th' mahnd Ah was tryin' ta contact, Ah'd be able ta get in without alertin' an outsahde presence. Even a telepath as strong as th' Professor wouldn't be able ta detect me. Why?"

"I think I can get you an exact location. One of my powers is the ability to see people when I touch a deck of cards," Solitaire explained. "If I concentrate on Rogue, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler or Gambit, I—"

"Who?" Jean interrupted. Solitaire looked confused. "Rogue, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler and Gambit. The four students Damien kidnapped."

"We don't call them that," Jean said, perplexed. Solitaire frowned. "Maybe it's because I mainly get the names of mutants when I have visions. Or when I see somebody and they're a mutant. I can tell what they can do and what their codename is. Those are the names I got."

"Ya sure that ya c'n see them?" Dreamer asked. Solitaire nodded. "I can direct my visions, a little. You'll have to take the images from my mind, though. I usually get migraines after I make myself see something."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Jean asked. "You can pull out any time you want. It's perfectly understandable."

"Thanks, Dr. Summers-Grey, but I can do this. Cerebro can't find them because of those cuffs Damien has, but I can. I have to give it a shot."

Jean's gaze shifted to Dreamer. He spoke before she could.

"Ah'm sure too, Jean, so don' try ta change mah mahnd. Let's get this done."

Solitaire turned the first card and whispered, "show me Shadowcat."

Jean couldn't see anything but a blur on the card. Solitaire stiffened as the vision began.

__

A brunette girl, pretty, kind of preppy-looking, pacing in a room with an auburn-haired guy with red-on-black eyes sitting on the bed nearby. **Shadowcat** and **Gambit**.

He muttered, "more detail. Location."

__

A large facility with several mutant signatures. A dark-haired guy in his mid-twenties, wearing black and talking to a blonde girl. **Dark** and **Laser**. Human names **Damien** and **Sabrina**. Walking past the room with Shadowcat and Gambit. Talking about… words fuzzy. Unclear.

"More detail."

__

Dim corridors, all in white. Underground. Far away.

Solitaire blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of the black dots in his sight. He muttered, "come on, I need more than this!"

He turned the next card, ignoring the lash of pain that followed. Determined to stick this out until he found something useful.

__

A field, splitting open. A jet lifting off. The field closing again, as if the split was never there.

"Good, show me more of that. Where is it?"

__

Pulling away from the field, like a view from space. Almost as if there is a blinking sign above it, saying 'Colorado'. The base is still in Colorado.

"I found them. Get the images from my mind before I pass out," Solitaire said urgently, concentrating on keeping the pain at bay long enough for Jean to read his thoughts. He felt her gentle presence in his head.

** Where? ** she asked. He concentrated and pulled the images from the vision out of his mind. ** Here. **

Almost as soon as Jean had taken the images in, he lost the battle against the flood of pain he had tried to hold back. Jean recoiled from his mind as it came crashing down like a deluge from a broken dam. He managed a weak smile and said, "do what you can. I don't think I can help much more."

Jean turned to Dreamer. "You've got stronger barriers than any I've ever seen. Do you think you could drop them for a few minutes?"

"All raht, Ah'll try. Ah'm not sure if Ah know how."

Jean reached out to Dreamer's mind with her own, aware of countless other minds in the mansion. As soon as she entered his mind, she could "hear" every other consciousness in the area with startling clarity. She could feel Jubilee's anxiety over Dreamer, underlying sadness over Raptor and anger at Damien. She could feel the pain and utter weariness that Solitaire was determined to hide. She could even feel her own uncertainty and worry. And she could see Dreamer's memories.

__

A man's sinister face, staring at them with greed and cruelty in his eyes. A slightly younger Dreamer stood in front of Aura and Remy, a defiant expression on his face. "Stay th' hell away from them, Sinister," he hissed. "Ya wanna hurt someone, try ta take me on."

Jean pulled away from the memory, unwilling to violate Dreamer's privacy. She'd felt a deep disgust and fear in the memory, and it worried her.

** Don' worry, Jean, ** Dreamer "said" softly. ** Just tell me what Ah need ta know. **

She pulled the information she'd received from Solitaire's mind and pushed it into Dreamer's mind. He said, ** got it. Ah think this maht just do th' trick. **

Jean pulled out of his mind and opened her eyes. Dreamer said, "ya gotta sedate me again. Ah won't be able ta get insahde their dreams otherwise."

Jean injected him with the same sedative they'd used before. In seconds, he was unconscious.

She turned to Solitaire. "Maybe you should go back to your room and get some sleep," she said. "You don't look too good."

"Headache," he admitted. "Forcing myself to see things always gives me a migraine."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, after some sleep. Hope it did some good," Solitaire said. He stood up shakily and grabbed the side of the table. "Woah. Dizzy."

"That's it, you're not walking up the stairs," Jean said. "You can sleep here."

"Would it be okay if you dimmed the lights a little?" Solitaire asked. "My eyes are extremely light-sensitive, and it's a little bright."

"Is that why you wear sunglasses?" Jean asked. Solitaire nodded. "Yeah. Ever since I was a little kid."

He walked unsteadily over to one of the exam beds.

"Tell me if it did any good, okay?"

"All right," Jean replied. "But the rest is up to Dreamer."

@@@

Dreamer felt his consciousness break away from his body. He pulled the images Solitaire had found into the front of his mind and concentrated on them. His mind rocketed past countless other people, sleeping, daydreaming, going about their lives, oblivious to his presence hurtling past them.

He could feel Rogue's consciousness signaling that she was asleep. Now that he knew exactly where to go, the other dreamseeker wouldn't be able to touch on his presence.

He bypassed the vortal nexus and went straight for Rogue's mind. He carefully entered her dream, not wanting to rupture her subconscious.

He was in an unfamiliar place, a meadow covered in snow. Flakes drifted down slowly, but he didn't feel the cold. His real body, the one that could feel, was back in Westchester. This was just his astral projection.

He walked through the fields, looking for a sign of Rogue. After a while, he saw her sitting by a campfire, her back to him.

"Rogue?"

His voice seemed unbearably loud in the quiet dreamscape. She turned and smiled. "Hi Dreamer. What are y'all doin' here?"

"Ah don' have long, Rogue. This is a dream. Ah contacted ya through th' vortal nexus ta see if there's anythin' ya know 'bout where y'all are that c'n help us fahnd ya. We know y'all in Colorado but not where exactly."

Rogue frowned. "We haven't seen much, but Damien let slip that we're in this li'l town just insahde th' border. More lahke **_under_** th' town, actually."

"Are y'all okay? Have ya seen th'others?"

"Ah'm with Kurt, an' we're both fahne. They haven't done anythin' ta hurt us. Ah don' know where Kit an' Remy are."

"C'n ya think of anythin' we c'n use 'gainst Damien?" Dreamer asked. Rogue shook her head. "Sorry, Sugah. Ah honestly cain't think of anythin'."

"Do ya know where Remy an' Kitty are bein' held?"

"No. Ah haven't seen anyone but Kurt," Rogue replied. Suddenly, the dreamscape crackled and turned black-and-white, like a television in a storm. Rogue looked alarmed. "Dreamer, what's goin' on?"

"Y'all wearin' those karamantium cuffs," Dreamer explained. "They're blockin' mah power."

"Then get outta here b'fore ya do damage ta yaself," Rogue exclaimed. Dreamer said, "we'll get y'all outta there, Rogue. Ah promise."

He pulled away from the dreamscape just as it broke completely, leaving the white void of nothingness that he'd become used to seeing when a dreamer suddenly woke up.

As he was returning to his own body, Dreamer remembered the flicker of consciousness he'd felt the first time he passed Raptor in the dreamstate. When he passed her body again, he felt the same flicker of consciousness, although all he could see were fuzzy memories.

He approached her astral mind carefully, looking for a way in without hurting her mind or body. He finally found a loophole in the links that made up her defensive shields and slid through.

__

((This is nothin' lahke Ah expected. Th' coma victims Ah came inta contact with when…))

He broke off that train of thought and concentrated on Raptor's mind.

Raptor's subconscious was like nothing he'd ever seen before. Most of the time, coma victims didn't dream. Their minds were focused on the outside world, but they couldn't see it or hear it. So they dredged memories up, memories of loved ones and friends. Raptor had memories, but she also had dreams.

The dreamscape was the mansion. Dreamer didn't see Raptor anywhere but he knew she was around there somewhere. He walked up the polished wood stairs and toward the room she and Jubilee had shared.

Raptor was sitting on the bed, brushing her hair. She glanced up as Dreamer entered the room and smiled. "Hi Dreamer. Have you seen Bobby? I've been looking for him but I can't find him."

Dreamer swallowed and took a step forward. "Raptor…"

"He said he'd find them for me."

The dreamscape suddenly shifted to a large communal house. Several children were playing games with soft toys at one end of a big grassy yard, while adults had a barbecue and talked. Raptor walked over to the children and knelt down. A dark-haired little girl in a pink sundress was laughing and playing with the others.

Dreamer walked over and stood beside Raptor. "Is that…"

"Me. I was only five years old," Raptor said, watching her younger self play. "I didn't know people could do what they did."

"What happened?" Dreamer asked. "Why were ya sent ta a foster home?"

The dreamscape changed again, this time to a small, rundown house with dying grass in the front yard. A big, beefy guy stood on the front porch, watching as a thirteen-year-old Raptor walked up the path.

"Where've you been, girl?" he asked. The younger Raptor glared at him and said, "school. Or were you so drunk you didn't remember that?"

The man hit her, sending her sprawling to the grass. She slowly got up and stormed past him into the house.

The older Raptor looked sad. "Richard. I lived with him for nine years. I met Jubilee when we were both seven. And when we were sixteen we ran away."

The dreamscape showed two teenaged girls, Raptor and Jubilee, walking away from a bar. A truck stopped beside them and a familiar voice asked, "you need a ride?"

"This's how ya met Logan," Dreamer realised. Raptor nodded. "Yes. He took us to the mansion, to a real family. But not my parents, never them…"

"Raptor, Ah came ta take ya back. Don' ya want ta see Bobby again?"

The dreamscape suddenly shifted to the room where they'd all been held captive by Damien, the Augmentator in the middle. The room was empty except for Raptor, Dreamer and Damien.

The older man laughed. "Foolish child," he said, "what makes you think your parents are even alive? For all you know, the people who kidnapped you killed them."

"Don' listen ta him, Raptor."

Raptor was huddled against the wall, tears shining in her dark eyes. Dreamer suddenly noticed that she was wearing pure white Spandex pants and a white Spandex leotard, and patches of deep crimson were appearing on her chest.

"That's it, bleed! You're useless anyway," Damien snarled. "You couldn't even save Rogue from death. You wasted your effort."

"Raptor, Rogue's alive! Ya saved her," Dreamer said desperately. Raptor shrank back against the wall, tears tricking down her cheeks, the patches of blood growing larger.

"Nobody's going to care if you die. You're just a waste of space," Damien hissed. "Even your parents don't care. If they did, why haven't they come looking for you? Or is it because they're dead?"

"Ya parents are alive," Dreamer said, dropping down in front of the sobbing girl. "Bobby found them, an' he's gonna bring them back ta th' mansion!"

"You're just a worthless piece of gutter trash," Damien said, grinning cruelly. "Only good for one thing. They'll use you and throw you away. You know it. Richard did, didn't he? So why should they be any different?"

Raptor covered her face with her hands. Dreamer grabbed her wrists and snapped, "ignore him! Are ya gonna let him do this ta ya? Ya know that what he says is all lies. Nothin' he says is true, Raptor!"

"All your friends are gone, little girl. I killed them, just like I'm going to kill you. You know it's inevitable. Why fight it?"

"Don' listen ta him, Raptor," Dreamer said, trying to shake Raptor out of the shock she'd slipped into, slumped against the wall and sobbing.

"But he killed… he killed you all…"

"Do Ah look dead ta ya, Raptor?" Dreamer asked. Raptor hid her face in her hands and kept crying. Dreamer gently but firmly removed her hands, took her face into his hands and made her look at him.

"Nobody's dead, Raptor. We're all waitin' f'ya ta come back t'us. Bobby's gone ta bring ya parents back, they're not dead either. None of us are. Now stop this!"

Raptor's spasmodic sobs stopped and she looked up at Damien, her eyes glittering angrily. She stood up, and the bloodstains disappeared. She threw back her head and howled like a wounded wolf, then charged at him. Before he could move, she was on him, hands around his throat.

She raised one arm and the hand morphed into a blade. But even struggling for breath, Damien grinned and said, "go ahead. You can't kill. You're helpless."

"Finish it, Raptor!" Dreamer hissed. Raptor plunged the hand-blade down into Damien's heart. He gasped as the blade pierced his heart and jerked reflexively. Raptor yanked the blade out, morphed it back into a hand and stood up. She turned to Dreamer and tears filled her eyes again.

He pulled her into a fierce hug. She clung to him as if she was afraid to let go. He spoke into her hair, "ya did a good job, Raptor."

"Is Bobby really getting my parents?"

"Ah wouldn't lie 'bout that, Raptor."

He could feel her tears as he stroked her hair, rocking her gently in his arms. Finally, she pulled away and wiped her face. "Take me home, Dreamer. Show me how to go home."

TBC. In Chapter Seven, the X-Men and some new recruits go to rescue their friends. Damien and Sabrina talk about one of Damien's sinister associates. Plans are unveiled…


	7. Chapter Seven

****

Chapter Seven

Rogue woke up almost as soon as Dreamer left her dream. Kurt was looking at her with a concerned expression on his face. "Are you all right?" he asked. "You looked as though you were having an intense dream."

"Ah was, Sugah. Ah think Dreamer found a way ta contact us while we're sleepin'," Rogue said slowly, sitting up and rubbing her face. "Ah told him where we are, an' he said they'd get us out. Th' cuffs were interferin' with his power so he had ta go b'fore it hurt him. Ah hope he's okay."

"He'll be fine, Rogue. He can take care of himself."

The door hissed open and three of the guards walked in, carrying trays of food, magazines and newspapers. Rebecca, the red-haired, red-eyed girl, dumped the magazines on the bed and said, "I gave 'em a list of what normal people read, but Dusk just don't understand teenagers. Hope these are okay."

The other two guards, Prowler and a dark-haired girl with green skin covered in purple swirls, placed the trays on the table in the middle of the room. The girl said, "Dusk was gonna give us beer to bring, but I figured you wouldn't be so hot on that. Bec managed to convince him to buy soda."

It had been like this ever since they were captured. Every six hours, Rebecca, Prowler and the dark-haired girl who called herself Jennie brought them food, soda and magazines. Rogue asked, "could Ah have a real book, not those magazines?"

Jennie glanced at Rebecca and Prowler, who shrugged. She replied, "why not? I'll be back in a sec."

She left the room, leaving Prowler and Rebecca to guard Kurt and Rogue. The redhead was playing with Kurt's image inductor. She said, "this is an interesting piece of technology. So small! I thought something that could change what we look like would have to be much bigger."

She put it on the table. "Damien doesn't want to bother with it. Personally I'd love to be able to change my appearance but he says that's what shapeshifters are for."

Jennie returned with a handful of paperbacks. "I took these from Damien's office," she said, giggling. "He'll probably think Sabrina did it. She's the only one who'll go into his office."

"With good reason," Rebecca said reproachfully. "Never let Damien catch you in his office. You know what his temper's like."

"Are our friends all right?" Kurt asked. Rebecca nodded. "They're fine. Bored, but that's to be expected, isn't it?"

"Can we see them?" Rogue asked. Rebecca hesitated, biting her lip. "I don't know. Damien might get mad."

"Please? Ah just wanna see them for a few minutes," Rogue pleaded. Prowler sighed. "Look, if it was up to us you'd be able to talk to them for however long you wanted. But Damien gave us orders to keep you separated. I don't know why and I don't particularly care. You'll get to see them eventually."

@@@

As soon as Dreamer woke up, Jean was at his side. She asked, "did you find anything useful?"

"Rogue knows where they are. She gave me th' directions," Dreamer replied. He glanced over at Raptor. "How is she?"

"It's amazing. About an hour ago, not long after you went to see if the others knew anything about where they were, her brainwaves changed. She's sleeping now, not in a coma. I think she's going to be all right."

It was only then that Dreamer noticed all the X-Men, even Logan, and Jubilee, Chantelle, Aura and Solitaire were in the infirmary. He raised his eyebrows. "Somethin' Ah don' know 'bout, Jean?"

"Well, you all know about us being the X-Men, so Professor Xavier thought you might become recruits. Teammates," Scott explained. Aura grinned. "They want us to become X-Men. How weird is that?"

"Ah don' know, it kinda seems lahke a cool ahdea," Dreamer said slowly. Jean nodded. "The Professor never liked the idea of us having such a small team. When it was just me, Scott and Ororo, he always worried about us not having enough people to watch our backs. You students wouldn't come on every single mission, of course. You've still got your studies to worry about. But you could help us out."

"I think this is one time we need everyone we can get," Scott said. "Now that we've got the location of where Rogue, Remy, Kitty and Kurt are being held we can go and get them, but if there are as many mutants against us as there were last time we're going to need all the help we can get."

"I don't want Dreamer or Solitaire to go this time," Jean said. "They're still weak from what we did earlier. Besides, I want someone here in case Raptor wakes up before we get back."

"We'll be fine here," Solitaire said. "Good luck, you guys."

The X-Men took Aura, Jubilee and Chantelle to the hidden levels, where Cerebro resided and the Blackbird was kept. The three girls' eyes were wide and incredulous as they walked through the lower level to where the uniforms were.

Jubilee wrinkled her nose at the black uniform. "This is worse than what Raptor wears," she complained. Chantelle just pulled hers on, her hair turning bright silver in her excitement. Aura looked down at the jeans and black shirt she was wearing.

"What's wrong with this?" she asked. Jean, already in her uniform, replied, "these are more practical to fight in, Aura. They have bulletproof vests build in and they allow for less restricted movement."

"Oh. Okay then."

Aura and Jubilee pulled their uniforms on and followed Jean to where Scott, Logan, Storm and Chantelle were waiting at the Blackbird. Scott was in the pilot seat and Jean in the copilot seat, which left the passenger seats for the girls, Storm and Logan, who had extended his claws and was swiping the air with them. Chantelle bounced into the jet. On her last bounce, she stayed in the air.

Jubilee looked up at her. "Uh, Chantelle, you're floating," she said. The European girl looked down and squeaked. "_Merde_! _Arretez_! _Comprehendez_ _nyet_…" _[(Insert favourite curse). Stop! I don't understand…]_

"Can you get down?" Jean asked. Chantelle closed her eyes and slowly came back down to floor level. When her feet touched the metal floor of the blackbird, she opened her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew. I don't know how **_that_** happened."

"We'll look into it after the mission," Storm said. "We should all sit down and prepare for a rather long flight. Colorado is a fair way away."

As they buckled themselves into the seats, Aura asked, "what can you do, Jubes?"

In answer, Jubilee held up her hands and miniature fireworks erupted with a _paf_ noise. Aura grinned. "Cool! What about you, Chantelle?"

Chantelle closed her eyes and vanished from sight. Aura frowned. "Where did she go?"

__

"I'm right here, Aura. You just can't see me."

She reappeared, still sitting in her seat. "I don't do that a lot. It's kinda creepy. What do you do?"

Aura concentrated. Suddenly, there were two Logans in the jet. Jubilee looked surprised. "Which one is the real one?" she asked. Aura snapped her fingers and one of the Logans vanished.

"Cool," Chantelle said. "I get the feeling this is gonna be easy."

"You don't know that," Storm cautioned. "Never underestimate your enemy."

@@@

Sabrina walked down the dim corridors of the base, her bootheels making clicking noises against the white tile. She was dressed in black jeans, black calf boots, a navy halter top and a long black duster. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a French twist and she was wearing the pearl earrings Kylie had bought her for her seventeenth birthday, two days ago.

She entered Damien's private quarters. He was sitting at the desk, the wall of monitors in front of him. Sabrina walked up behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "You're very tense," she murmured. "Your shoulders are full of knots."

She started to massage his shoulders and neck, talking while her hands moved. "How's the plan going?"

"Well enough. The four we have don't suspect anything," Damien said, still looking at the monitors. "Is everything ready? Dusk and Discordia in position?"

"They're ready," Sabrina assured him. "Rebecca, Prowler and Jennie took our guests their food and magazines. I'm still not sure we should have chosen them, Damien. They're too soft-hearted."

"They have their flaws, but they suit my purpose," Damien said. "You and your mother, on the other and, are virtually perfect."

He turned around. "You turned seventeen a few days ago, didn't you?"

When Sabrina nodded, Damien stood up and walked over to the chest of drawers beside the bed. "I'm sorry I didn't see you on the day, but I was very busy organising things. However, I believe this should make up for it."

He pulled out a small black box tied with a thin, crimson ribbon and handed it to her. "Happy birthday plus two, Sabrina."

Sabrina untied the ribbon carefully, opened the box and gasped. Lying on a bed of dark crimson rose petals was a gold chain with a teardrop pendant. The gemstone was a red so dark it was almost black.

Damien lifted the chain and looped it around her neck. "It's a bloodstone," he explained, doing up the clasp. He moved around in front of her and smiled. "It suits you."

Sabrina touched the stone with one finger. "I can't accept this. It's too expensive."

"You're seventeen, Sabrina. A fairly large milestone to my thinking. Besides, you're one of us. Expense is not important. After all, my funds are almost as large as Professor Xavier's. There are many people who hate mutants, but there are also those who merely hate the ones who ally themselves with Xavier. These people are more than willing to give us the monetary support we need. As well as some of the people who have their own agendas with certain students at the mansion, and are willing to pay me to help them with their vendettas. It's a twisted web and it suits me perfectly, don't you think?"

Sabrina looked at her reflection and smiled. "All right then. I do like it. It reminds me of what I can do with my lasers. Virtually make blood come from stone."

She turned to the wall of monitors. "How has Discordia's training gone?" she asked. Damien replied, "perfectly. She's ready. I think we all are. The dreamseeker contacted the Southern girl in her dreams earlier today, so I assume it won't be long before the X-Men arrive."

"Isn't Adam here to stop that from happening?" Sabrina asked. Damien replied, "I didn't want it to be too easy. Their dreamseeker tried to locate our guests through the vortal nexus, and Adam prevented that. So they had to find another way, and that ate up their time. And gave Discordia enough time to learn what she has to. We will need Adam later on, and I want you to train him properly once this part of the plan is over, but for now I merely needed him to create the pretense of security for our simple-minded friends."

Sabrina smiled. "They don't suspect a thing, do they?"

"Probably not. The Cajun thinks that I plan to use the Augmentator on them again, and I think the brunette agrees with him. The Southerner and the Elf haven't discussed it yet, but I don't doubt that they've come to the same conclusion."

"The Cajun was going to try to pick the locks of the cuffs," Sabrina said, chuckling. Damien smiled. "I know. What they don't realise is that the "keyhole" is actually a decoy. The cuffs lock electronically, and the locking mechanism is protected by the karamantium. They'll never get out of them with bobbypins."

"Do you know the background of the Cajun, Daniel Whitlock and the girl they call Aura?" Sabrina asked. "The Cajun and Kitty were talking before, and it seems there's more to those three than meets the eye."

"Yes, they have a rather interesting past," Damien mused. "There is still a lot I don't know, but that will change as soon as I speak to one of my associates."

"One of your associates?"

Damien nodded. "Yes, a man who has an… interest in the Cajun, Daniel and Aura. I imagine he's furious at losing them. It wasn't all that long ago, after all."

"What do you mean?" Sabrina asked. Damien replied, "you know that Daniel met Aura and Remy in an orphanage, don't you?"

"Yes, when the boys were seven and Aura was five," Sabrina answered. Damien continued, "they didn't stay in the orphanage for long, as I'm sure you also know. They spent a little time on the streets. My associate encountered them and was… intrigued. He took them in and trained them extremely well. But it seems he pushed them a little too hard at one point. A little over a year ago, Daniel challenged him, and the three made quite a mess of the place. They escaped and lived on the streets for a few months before Jean Grey took them to the mansion.

"Of course, training wasn't the only thing my associate did with the mutants he acquired. He is an incredibly unscrupulous man. He did unconscionable things. I know I can hardly be called a saint, but the worst things I do aren't nearly as bad as the mildest things he did and still does. Still, I feel sorry for him."

"Sorry?"

"When I think of what must have happened to make him snap that way… the world is cruel, Sabrina. Perhaps he thought he was preparing his charges for a world that would never accept them. Maybe he thought he was doing the right thing."

"You really think so?"

"No, of course not. No doubt he tries to excuse himself by saying that, but there's no way I believe it," Damien said. "The man is evil. But he also has a brilliant mind, even if he does use it for… unpleasant things."

A computerized voice spoke suddenly. _"Proximity alert. Proximity alert. Unknown aircraft approaching."_

Damien grinned. "I think we're about to have some company."

TBC. In Chapter Eight, the fighting gets underway. Raptor wakes up and has a chat with Dreamer and Solitaire. The X-Men fight. And fight. And Discordia shows a disturbing aspect of her mutation…


	8. Chapter Eight

****

Chapter Eight

The Blackbird landed just inside the border of Colorado. Dreamer had given them all the location Rogue had given him before they left.

Aura looked around the deserted meadow, hands on her hips. "So where is this place?" she asked. Jean smiled tolerantly. "It's nearby, Aura. Underground, actually. Dreamer's directions were very precise. We're almost there."

They walked for five minutes before coming up to what looked like a watershed. Aura was fidgeting with the collar of her uniform, playing with the zip. When they reached the "watershed" she spoke up.

"I think we should spilt up. Make it easier to find them," she said with an apologetic glance at Scott. He nodded. "Good idea. Groups of no less than two. Logan and Chantelle, Jean, Storm and Jubilee, me and Aura. That okay?"

They all nodded, knowing why they'd been paired up that way. Strengths bolstering weaknesses to make them a more formidable team.

The door was locked with an electronic keypad. Aura glanced at Scott for permission before stepping forward and kneeling down in front of it. She studied it for a few seconds, then held her hand a few centimeters away from the keys. A flickering white light like electricity crackled from her fingers and danced over the keys. Aura closed her eyes and the indicator went green. There was a click and the door slid open.

Aura stood up and grinned. "We're in."

They entered the watershed, which was actually an elevator. There were three levels of the base, each one deep underground. Scott said, "each team take one level. Logan, you and Chantelle get the first one. Jean, Storm and Jubilee, take second. Aura and I will take third."

The doors slid open on level 1 and Logan and Chantelle exited the lift. They clicked on their communicators and began to walk down the dim corridor, sticking to the shadows.

"Logan!" Chantelle hissed. "Should I turn invisible?"

"Better not. I won't be able to see you," Logan replied, sniffing the air for a trace of the four captives. Chantelle nodded assent and they kept moving, Logan ready to slide his claws out in a microsecond.

Jean, Storm and Jubilee got off on the second level. Jean scanned for any presence with her telepathy, but she couldn't feel anyone close by. Storm and Jubilee watched her back as they went deeper into the base, scanning for their friends.

Scott and Aura descended to the third level. Aura shivered slightly when the door hissed open and the mildly colder air raised goosebumps on her skin. Scott asked, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Let's get this done."

"We should try to find the central computer. There'd be security cameras and monitors there. We need to knock those out, and we might be able to find the others from there."

Aura nodded. "Okay. Lead the way fearless leader."

Scott half-turned to look at her. "Have you been talking to Logan?"

"Yep."

Scott shook his head as they continued to walk.

@@@

Sabrina's walkie-talkie buzzed. She picked it up and hissed, "what?"

__

"Security has been breached, Sabrina. What are your orders?"

Sabrina felt a shiver of joy at those words. This was her command. Damien had put her in charge of this mission, trusted her to make sure it went off without a hitch. And now Draconia was asking for her orders.

"Leave a guard at both rooms, Draconia. Preferably Rachel and Kylie. Then take Dusk and Lukas and go to Level 1. The wolf-man and the invisible girl are there. Send Jennie, Rebecca and Prowler to deal with the telepath, the weather goddess and the firecracker. I'll join Discordia on Level 3 to deal with Cyclops and Aura."

__

"Will do. Over and out."

Sabrina walked over to the wall communicator and keyed up Discordia's quarters. The metallic girl answered almost immediately.

"Yes, Sabrina?"

"Are you ready?"

"Of course. I'll meet you on Level 3 and we can have some fun," Discordia said, smirking. Sabrina broke the connection.

She turned to her closet. The outfit she was wearing wasn't really practical for combat, so she grabbed a new outfit and changed. She was about to leave the room when her communicator buzzed again. This time it was Damien.

__

"You heading off, Sabrina?"

"Yep. Discordia's gonna meet me on Level 3."

__

"You really want to take on Cyclops and Aura?"

"My lasers work better than his optic blasts, Damien, and we did have this place fitted so no mutant power can destroy it. Besides, I have the fun part of this mission. I'll be fine."

__

"All right. Just be careful."

"Always am. See ya later."

@@@

Solitaire and Dreamer were watching TV in the infirmary when Raptor stirred. She sat up slowly, rubbing her temples.

"Damn, Dreamer, you couldn't have yelled a little less loudly when you were in my dream?" she asked teasingly. Dreamer jumped up and hugged her. "It's 'bout tahme ya woke up," he chided. "Even Remy don' sleep in as long as y'all did."

Raptor grinned. "Thanks for coming and getting me, Dreamer. I don't think I would have had the strength to face Damien if you hadn't been there."

She noticed Solitaire and smiled. "Hey. Haven't seen you around. Are you new here?"

"Storm brought me here," Solitaire replied. "I don't know if I'm staying yet. I don't actually know what the whole deal with this place is. There was some emergency and the others left in a jet."

Raptor nodded. "The Blackbird, yeah. Is that where Bobby went? Cause he said he'd be here, but I understand if there's trouble."

"Actually, Bobby went to bring your parents back," Dreamer said. Raptor's eyes widened. "He found them?"

Dreamer nodded. "He called while ya were sleepin', a little after Ah got inta ya dream. They should be here in a couple hours."

Raptor frowned. "So where are the others? Is something wrong?"

Dreamer sighed. "Rogue, Remy, Kurt and Kitty were captured by Damien's people," he replied. Raptor looked alarmed. "They are gonna be okay, right?"

"If th' X-Men have anythin' ta do with it, yeah," Dreamer assured her. "Don' worry, they won' let anythin' happen ta th'others."

"I know, it's just… you guys are the closest I've come to a family since I was sent to live with Richard. I don't want to lose you. **_Any_** of you," Raptor said. She grinned suddenly. "You wanna go raid the kitchen? I'm starving!"

"Ah don' know, ya maht still be a l'il weak. Ya **_have_** been in a coma f' th' past three months, ya know," Dreamer cautioned. Raptor sighed. "Then will you go get me something to eat? I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

"I'll go," Solitaire volunteered, standing up. "You want anything in particular?"

"If there's banana-flavoured milk down there I claim it," Raptor replied. "Other than that I'm not picky. But don't bring me any of Logan's pizza."

"F' two reasons," Dreamer said, chuckling, "he gets **_really_** pissed if ya eat his pizza, an' he lahkes the weirdest things on pizza."

"Like avocado," Raptor said, shuddering. "When we were on the road he actually tried to get me and Jubes to eat avocado pizza. We had to threaten him with candy highs before he'd stop."

Solitaire grinned. "Okay then. Dreamer, you want anything?"

"Ah'm not really hungry, Solitaire," the blue-haired Southerner replied. Solitaire nodded and headed to the kitchen.

Raptor pulled her hair out of the two braids it was done in and started brushing it. "So what's been happening?" she asked. "I want all the news. I've missed what, three months of gossip? I've got serious catching up to do."

Dreamer laughed. "An' ta think we were worried ya wouldn't be yaself," he teased. Raptor chuckled and kept brushing her hair. She stopped after a few minutes and said, "I'm gonna go shower. And before you say anything, I'll be fine and I don't need any help."

"Interestin' image, Raptor, but Ah'm not interested," Dreamer said, smiling at the innocent look on Raptor's face. She suddenly asked, "are you and Jubes together finally? It took you long enough!"

"Ah told Jubes ya knew 'bout us ever since we started sneakin' out ta th' pool, but she refused to believe me," Dreamer said, chuckling. "Ah think she didn't want ta think she'd been so obvious."

"Everyone knew you two were sweet on each other," Raptor chided. "It's almost as obvious as Kurt and Kitty. Come on, if they could show it in front of everyone why not you two? I mean, you've never hidden much from the others and Jubes is… well, Jubes."

Dreamer laughed, but his expression had darkened. "Ya right 'bout Jubes not hidin' much," he said. "Ah think Ah know more 'bout her than she does."

Solitaire returned just then. He handed Raptor the banana milk and put the rest of the stuff on the bedside table, along with a long-stemmed white rose from the garden. "These were in a vase in the kitchen, and you're supposed to bring flowers to sick people, so I figured why not," he said. Raptor smiled. "Thanks. I always liked white roses better than red ones."

She stretched her arms above her head and said, "I'm gonna go take that shower. If I'm not back in half an hour I jumped out the window and am on my way to Timbucktoo."

@@@

Chantelle glanced behind her apprehensively. "Logan?"

"Wait a second."

She looked around again, trying to stop the shiver that seemed determined to crawl up her spine. "Logan."

"Hold on, Chantelle."

Chantelle finally lost patience. "Logan, will you just listen to me!" she snapped. He turned and blinked at her. She was hovering a few centimeters off the ground, arms crossed and her hair a mixture of cherry-red, orange and yellow.

"Logan, I think I heard something. There's something not right about all this," she said, the red in her hair giving way to orange and yellow. Logan sniffed and growled, "you're right. There's someone nearby."

Chantelle's eyes widened just as a blow sent Logan reeling. He crashed into the wall and watched, stunned for a moment, as the teenager hurtled past him and attacked the three mutants standing in the corridor.

Logan recognised two of them as Dusk and Draconia, two of the mutants they'd fought before. The other was a guy who looked about twenty-five, with close-cropped white-blonde hair and glittering blue eyes. There was nothing really remarkable about him until you noticed the stiletto claws on his fingers, a lot like Logan's adamantium claws, and the spiked tail lashing behind him.

Chantelle sent Draconia flying with strength that the other girl hadn't expected. By that time Logan was on his feet again and taking on Dusk while the other man hung back a little, watching them fight as if gauging their power.

Chantelle suddenly flickered out of view. Logan could track her by her scent but it was hard. He's have to hope that she was smart enough to stay out of the way of his claws.

Meanwhile, back on Level 2, Jean, Storm and Jubilee were embroiled in combat with Jennie, Prowler and Rebecca.

Jean threw Jennie away from Jubilee with a telekinesis blast, but the other mutant was on her feet again in seconds. Prowler rammed Jean against the wall, stunning her and rendering her helpless to aid Storm and Aura.

Jennie didn't so much fight as dance around singing something extremely annoying that made Jean, Storm and Jubilee lose concentration. Which was certainly her aim, and probably her power. Every time she moved they felt a wave of sickness, as if they were standing at the top of a huge cliff and looked down.

Rebecca's power seemed to consist of throwing Storm away from her with weak telekinesis powers and launching sticky cables like spiderwebs at her from her fingertips. Most of them missed, since Storm had dodged them, but a few clung to her arms and legs, hindering her movement. Rebecca and Prowler were careful not to look at Jennie, but they didn't seem affected by her singing.

On Level 3, things were not looking good. Discordia's shapeshifting ability allowed her to move away fluidly when parts of her body were threatened, either by Scott's optic blasts or the knife Scott didn't know Aura had concealed in her boot. Aura had made illusions of herself and Scott in other parts of the hall, but the two mutants they faced didn't appear to be fooled.

Sabrina ducked out of the way of an optic blast and laughed. "Nice blast, Scott. Wanna see mine?"

Red beams shot out of her eyes and lanced towards Cyclops. He dodged aside, but the blast caught his left shoulder, a glancing blow that threw him backwards but didn't do much real harm. The laser beam dissipated against the white tile wall, leaving a black scorch mark. Sabrina grinned. "Optic blasts versus laser blasts. Which do you think would win, Scotty?"

Aura dodged Discordia's bladed hand and sunk her knife into the metal girl's right arm. Discordia screamed and yanked her arm away, leaving a wound that oozed blue-black blood. She hissed and morphed into what looked like a Gorgon from Greek myths — the snake-haired women whose gaze could turn a man, or woman, to stone. Discordia's Gorgon appearance lacked that ability, but it was perfectly capable of combat.

Discordia lunged at Aura and locked hands around her throat. Aura tore at Discordia's hands with her fingernails, even stabbed the knife into the other girl's hands and fingers, but Discordia held on until Aura collapsed from oxygen starvation. The metal girl looked at the limp figure on the ground, throat bruised and face pale, then turned to help Sabrina fight Scott.

Scott had seen Aura go down out of the corner of his eye. He desperately wanted to check on the girl, see if she was still alive, but Sabrina and Discordia kept him engaged in battle. Sabrina finally said, "enough. The others will be coming soon."

Discordia morphed into a perfect copy of Rogue and pulled off her gloves. She reached out to Scott and touched his face with one bare hand. Scott gasped as his energy began to flow out of him and into her. He hadn't thought Discordia could take on another mutants' abilities when she morphed, but this was proof that she could. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was Rogue's face with a smirk that looked disturbingly out of place.

TBC. In Chapter Nine, Aura and Scott get hurt. The X-Women kick ass. Raptor, Dreamer and Solitaire realise that this mission may not be as straightforward as it seems…


	9. Chapter Nine

****

Chapter Nine

Jean shook off the lethargy that had crept through her limbs when her head struck the wall and focused her telekinetic energy on Jennie. Once she was out of the fight, they should be able to concentrate on neutralising Rebecca and Prowler.

She flung Jennie into the wall with her telekinesis. The girl groaned and passed out, a cut on her temple bleeding sluggishly. Storm shot Jean a look of gratitude and turned back to fighting Prowler.

Jean went to help Jubilee, who was struggling against Rebecca, when a sharp sword of pain lanced through her head. She stumbled back and tried to isolate where the pain was coming from.

__

Scott!

She cried, "Scott and Aura are in trouble!"

"We're in a little trouble here too," Jubilee retorted, erupting fireworks in Rebecca's face. The redhead recoiled and Jean took the opportunity to throw Rebecca against the wall, where she met the same fate as Jennie.

All three X-women turned on Prowler. With Jean firing telekinetic blasts at him, Storm unleashing lightning bolts and Jubilee _paf_ing every two seconds, it wasn't long before he was out of the fight.

In unspoken agreement, the three X-women ran for the elevator to help Scott and Aura. On the short ride to Level 3 they caught their breath and steeled themselves for whatever they might see.

When the elevator doors swished open, what they saw was Sabrina bending over an unconscious Aura and Scott. She glanced up when she heard Jean, Storm and Jubilee coming and took a few steps back. Jean asked in a soft, dangerous voice, "what did you do to them?"

"N-nothing," Sabrina stammered, fingering a red gemstone around her neck. She took a few more steps then turned tail and ran.

Jean dropped down beside Scott and Aura. The red-and-green-haired girl had bruises on her throat and Scott had a trickle of blood running from a gash on his left temple. She was vaguely aware of Storm and Jubilee going to the end of the corridor, checking for anyone else, then coming back. Storm knelt beside Jean.

"They're breathing, and they don't seem to be injured badly. We'll take them to the jet and check them out," she said to Jean, who nodded. "Yeah. Good idea, 'Ro."

The elevator doors swished open again and Logan walked out. Jubilee asked, "where's Chantelle?"

__

"I'm here. Sometimes if I get excited and turn invisible it takes a few minutes to turn back. I need to learn how to control it."

"We got attacked by three of them," Logan said by way of explanation for the rents in his uniform where he'd obviously been cut and obviously healed. "We beat them. And I think I smell the kids down this way. What happened to Aura and Scooter?"

"They were attacked too," Jubilee said. "We all were."

"Should have expected it," Logan said. "Did we think this was gonna be a walk in the park or something?"

Storm spoke up. "Jean, why don't you, Jubilee and Chantelle take Scott and Aura to the jet. I'm sure Logan and I can manage to get the children out."

Jean nodded. Jubilee and Chantelle — by now visible again — moved forward and picked up Aura.

Storm and Logan watched them go before turning back to face the seemingly-endless white corridor. Logan sniffed and said, "this way."

Several doors later, he let his claws slide out with a _snikt_. He slashed the keys of the electronic lock and the door slid open.

Kitty and Remy looked up as Logan strode into the room and glanced around. "C'mon, kids. We gotta find the other two still."

Again following Logan's nose, they found Kurt and Rogue's room. Logan slashed the keys of the electronic lock again and he and Storm were treated to the reunion between the two couples. Remy and Rogue didn't even have to worry about accidentally touching each other's skin, since the karamantium cuffs were still locked around their wrists.

After a few minutes, Logan cleared his throat. "This is very touching and all, but I think we should get out of here. Anyone agree?"

The teenagers nodded sheepishly. Logan carefully sliced their cuffs off and they were about to begin walking back to the elevator when Rogue asked, "how many people c'n ya teleport at once, Sugah?"

She was looking at Kurt. He shrugged. "I've never tried to teleport anyone else, but it's worth a shot."

His tail was twined around Kitty's waist and their hands were clasped. Rogue's gloved hand was in Remy's, so she just took Kurt's other hand. Storm held his left wrist and Logan grabbed Storm's hand. Remy commented, "well, **_dis_** don' look too weird," before they all vanished in a cloud of sulphur and brimstone and the _bamf_.

@@@

Raptor was sitting up in bed wearing her Tweety Bird pajamas while she, Dreamer and Solitaire talked. She frowned suddenly. "Dreamer, how did the X-Men know where Kurt, Kitty, Rogue and Remy were?"

"Ah went inta Rogue's dream an' she told me. Ah told ya that b'fore, Raptor."

"Yeah, but how did Rogue know where they were? I can't see Damien being dumb enough to just tell his captives where they were, especially when he knows about your dream-power," Raptor said. Dreamer replied, "he prob'ly thought th' karamantium cuffs'd block mah power."

"If he knew the X-Men at all he'd know they'd find a way to get into Rogue's dream, or one of the others," Raptor argued. "I don't understand it."

"It's a trap," Solitaire said suddenly. "It has to be. Why else would Damien let Rogue know where she is? Raptor's right, if this guy's as smart as you say he is he wouldn't make a stupid mistake like that."

"We have ta warn them," Dreamer said. Raptor frowned. "How? They're too far away for even Professor Xavier to reach them telepathically, and he's not even here!"

"Mah dream-power," Dreamer said suddenly. "Ah c'n contact people who're awake if Ah'm asleep. It's our only chance."

"Wouldn't we have to drug you again?" Solitaire asked. "I don't know if I know how to do that without killing you."

"Ya're a telepath, aren't ya?"

"Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?" Solitaire asked. Dreamer replied, "get inta mah head and combine mah power with ya own. Ya telepathy an' th' range of mah dreamseekin' should be enough ta reach th'others."

Solitaire nodded slowly. "All right, but we have to be careful. If this backfires and we die Jean'll kill us."

Raptor burst into giggles which she tried to smother with her pillow. "Sorry. That sounded funny," she explained between giggles. "Look, is there any way I can help?"

"If we look as though we're in trouble, you have to pull us out of the trance," Solitaire said. "We gonna do this?"

Dreamer nodded. "Yeah, let's get this done."

Both boys closed their eyes. Solitaire reached out with his telepathic senses and felt Dreamer's mind intermingle with his own. He caught a few stray memories and thoughts, and felt a few of his own memories and thoughts absorbed by Dreamer's consciousness. The Southerner radiated a sense of laughter.

__

So **that's** what ya think 'bout when ya bein' all "silent broodin' guy", huh?

__

I don't know what you're talking about, Dreamer.

__

Sure ya don'. C'mon, let's get this done.

Solitaire concentrated on the X-Men. Suddenly, his mind was hurtling past countless other minds, each one a person going about their normal lives. He could feel Dreamer's gentle amusement at his surprise.

__

This's th' way Ah do things, Solitaire. Takes a li'l gettin' used ta, Ah know. Just go with it.

He felt Dreamer guiding them both, seeking the sparks he knew as the X-Men. The Southerner said, _it'll be easier if we c'n get inta Jean's mind. She's more receptive, bein' a telepath._

Solitaire agreed but didn't say anything, knowing Dreamer could feel his approval of the idea. They targeted Jean's mind and spoke, their telepathic voice coming out as a mix of Solitaire's and Dreamers. The Southern twang slipped in and coloured Solitaire's Ohio accent.

__

** C'n you hear me, Jean? **

She was surprised. _**Solitaire? Or is it Dreamer? I can't tell who you are… **_

Dreamer's amusement coloured their reply, as well as Solitaire's confusion over the way they were speaking **_into_** her mind, a way he'd never used before. _**Right on both counts, Jean. It's both of us. **_

__

****Both** of you? How is that possible? **

__

**We'll explain later, Jean. We had ta tell you that y'all walkin' into a trap. Us an' Raptor figured it's been too easy. Why would Damien let Rogue and the others know where they are? It don' make any sense. **

__

** I agree, but we're all fine. We're on the Blackbird and we're heading back to the mansion, ** Jean said. _** Although we **were** attacked not long after we got inside. Scott and Aura got knocked out, but they don't have any serious injuries. They should wake up soon. **_

Solitaire could feel Dreamer's perplexity over that. _** Somethin' don' add up, Jean. There's something we don't like about this. **_

__

** We were probably supposed to get captured when we were attacked, ** Jean said. _** They sent a lot of mutants after us. That's probably it. **_

__

** Yeah, that's probably what it is, ** Dreamer/Solitaire agreed, although neither of them really believed that. Something fishy was going on.

__

Not much we c'n do, though. Jean's prob'ly raht, we're jus' bein' paranoid. Let's get back ta our own bodies, Dreamer said. Solitaire replied, _I still don't like it._

__

Ah don' either, but what c'n we do? Jean, Scott an' Storm have been X-Men f' a long tahme. Ah'm sure they know what they're doin'.

The two teenagers returned to their bodies. Solitaire rubbed his temples. "I feel like I tried to take on Logan," he muttered. Dreamer shrugged. "That's th' way Ah felt when Ah first used mah powers. It passes quickly."

Raptor was looking at them both anxiously. "Are you okay? Did you tell them?" she asked. Dreamer replied, "they're all fahne, Raptor. They got attacked in th' place, but they got outta there. Scott an' Aura were hurt but Jean says they'll be okay."

"Are you two okay? When you were contacting them you kinda looked as though you were going to pass out for a while there," Raptor said. Solitaire noticed the shreds of a napkin on the bedside table and a few strips of the white material in Raptor's hands. He smiled and replied, "we're both okay. It was unreal, like nothing I've ever done before."

"And you're sure they're all okay?" Raptor persisted. Dreamer nodded. "They're okay, Raptor. They'll be back soon."

@@@

Chantelle glanced over at Jean as the telepath opened her eyes. "Mrs. Summers-Grey? Are you okay?" she asked. Jean nodded. "Yes. Solitaire and Dreamer contacted me using a mix of both their powers. They thought we might be walking into a trap."

"_Es_ _verdad_? Why would they think that?" _[Is that so?]_

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think they might have been right. It was awfully convenient, Damien's mutants getting there so quickly."

Chantelle nodded thoughtfully. She was lying across two of the seats with her booted feet sitting on the headrest, and her hair was lilac laced with pale grey, the colour she said indicated she was tired. Apparently, the darker the grey the more tired she was, until she was either unconscious or asleep, in which case her hair would be black.

"It **_was_** strange, _nyet_? They fought us like wildcats for a while, and then they just let us leave," Chantelle mused. Jean frowned. "You'd prefer them to fight and maybe kill us?"

"Nyet! _Timor mortis conturbat me_, I would never prefer that. I'm just saying it was odd, _comprehendez_?" _[The thought of dead disturbs me… … understand?]_

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. The grey in her hair darkened until it had almost smothered the lilac. Jean said, "go to sleep, Chantelle. I'll wake you when we get back to the mansion."

"You're sure?" Chantelle asked. Jean could tell she wanted to pull her weight but was also exhausted by the night's events, which would be tiring for a newcomer. She nodded and replied, "we'll be fine. We're just flying back to the mansion, after all. I doubt there's a stowaway in the jet."

Chantelle smiled gratefully and in seconds she was asleep, her hair pitch black with streaks of lilac, indicating that her dreams were happy. There were also pink streaks among the lilac, but Chantelle hadn't told them what pink was for.

Jean glanced toward the back of the jet and smiled. Rogue and Remy were in as much contact as they could be without any bare skin touching, and Kitty and Kurt were both asleep, curled up on one seat together. Even the slight separation in Damien's base, each not knowing if the other was all right, had starved them for the touch of their respective partner. Jean understood that; when she'd been abducted with the ten students, three months ago, she'd been scared for herself, her baby and the students, but terrified that Scott and the others were captives somewhere. Not knowing had been torture, worse than anything Damien could have done to her.

Storm sat down beside Jean. "It looks like both Scott and Aura will be perfectly fine," she said. "Both have slight head trauma, enough to knock them out but nothing that will cause any permanent damage. They'll have headaches for a few days, but that's about it."

Logan glanced back from the pilot seat. "Almost home, kids."

Jubilee was sleeping in the copilot seat, her head resting on Logan's shoulder. Jean smiled to herself, a little surprised at the tenderness the big Canadian showed toward Jubilee, Raptor, Rogue and Chantelle, but then he'd taken them all off the road and probably away from a life that no young girl should have to live, and he knew that. They must have been like honorary daughters to him. And to a man with no family that he could remember, the family of misfit mutants was even more precious than anyone could have imagined.

As Logan landed the Blackbird, Chantelle snapped awake and bounced onto her feet, instantly energised again. Jubilee woke up more slowly, rubbing her eyes, and Kurt and Kitty didn't even get as far as waking. Kitty murmured something and buried her head in Kurt's chest, while he wrapped an arm around her, both of them still fast asleep. Jean smiled and said, "let them stay here for the night. There's no point in waking them, and they're safe enough in the hangar."

They moved Scott and Aura up to the infirmary where Jean could keep an eye on them. As soon as they opened the door, Jubilee and Logan were attacked by a bouncing teenager wearing Tweety Bird pajamas.

Jubilee squealed and hugged Raptor. Logan surprised them all by engulfing both girls in a bear hug, during which Raptor somehow reached his face and planted a kiss on his cheek. When he gave her a questioning look, she shrugged and said, "I missed you. All of you."

Once Scott and Aura had been settled in beds, Raptor bounced around the room, hugging everyone. When she reached Chantelle, she grinned and said, "hi, I'm Raptor."

"Chantelle. Nice to meet you."

"You going to stay here for a while?" Raptor asked. When Chantelle nodded, she said, "cool. The mansion's fun, and the teacher's aren't bad for teachers. There's only one thing I'm not too hot on. They won't let me have a martini until I turn twenty-one."

Chantelle burst out laughing, as did Raptor and Jubilee. Logan rolled his eyes. "Wonderful. Three hyperactive teenage girls. Add Rogue and Kitty to these three and you'd never get a moment's peace."

"Sure you would," Raptor said. "It'd just be a very short moment, probably at about two o'clock in the morning."

The phone rang and Jean picked it up. After a few minutes she said, "all right, I'll tell her. You're sure you don't want to talk to her… of course, I understand. See you soon."

She hung up and said, "Raptor, that was Bobby. He would have talked to you, but he was using a payphone and they had to get going. He wanted to tell you that he found your parents and they're on their way here."

TBC. In Chapter Ten, Bobby comes back! With Raptor's parents!! Solitaire and Chantelle have a heart-to-heart in the garden!!! Something sinister is revealed back at Damien's base!!!! Ares gets sick of writing these bits!!!!!


	10. Chapter Ten

****

Chapter Ten

Raptor's parents arrived an hour later. After engulfing Bobby in a hug, Raptor pulled away and looked at the dark-haired couple.

Alice smiled tearfully. "My little Anastasia. It's really you."

"M-mom? Dad?"

"It's us, honey," Mark assured her. "We've finally found you."

Raptor ran to them and flung her arms around them, tears running down her cheeks. "I can't believe it's really you," she sobbed. "I wanted this to happen for so long…"

"I know, sweetie," Alice said. "We all have."

Raptor wiped her eyes and glanced at the other mutants. "I'm so glad I have you back again. But… but this is where I belong now. I have a place here, people I love, quite possibly the best boyfriend in the history of mankind. I don't want to leave all that."

"We wouldn't dream of making you leave," Alice said. "Your father and I are going to buy a place in the city so we'll be nearby, but you can stay here for as long as you have to. From what Bobby's told us, this is the best place for mutants. Besides, your friends are here. We'll do whatever you want, Anastasia."

"Mom?"

"Yes honey?"

"Call me Raptor."

@@@

Chantelle walked through the grounds of the mansion, enjoying the sensation of grass under her bare feet, even though it was pretty late at night. As she walked past a stand of trees, she saw Solitaire sitting underneath a huge oak, wearing his ever-present Aviator sunglasses even so late at night, a pack of cards beside him. He was strumming a guitar softly, singing something under his breath.

When he saw Chantelle he laid the guitar by his side and smiled. "Hi Chantelle."

"This week has been so hectic I never got a chance to meet you properly," Chantelle said, hovering uncertainly. She wasn't sure whether he wanted to be alone or not. She was answered when he said, "take a seat. We can meet each other properly now."

She sat down and leaned against the tree. "Tonight was so intense. I've never done anything like that before. I know Logan thinks it was a… a tactical move, I think he called it, but when the other mutants attacked us I panicked. I turned invisible and I was about to run when I saw them attacking Logan. What else was I supposed to do? I attacked them… I've never hurt anyone before, Solitaire. And I… I kind of liked it. How sick is that? I felt like it was the right thing, hurting them. It's like there's this **_thing_** inside me, a thing that enjoys making people suffer. And I don't know if I'll be able to contain it next time."

Her hair had turned blue, orange and yellow-streaked as she spoke. Solitaire took her chin in his hand and turned her face to his. "Chantelle, listen to me. You're not a monster and you're not dangerous to any of us. You got caught up in a battle rage, that's all. It happens to the best of us. You saw people attacking your friend, and you defended him and yourself. It's perfectly normal."

"You really think so?"

"I don't know you very well, Chantelle, but I think if you were someone who enjoyed hurting people you'd have done more of it before now. You said you've never hurt anyone before, and I believe you. I also think that if you were what you're afraid of being, you wouldn't be able to say that."

Chantelle turned tear-filled brown eyes to Solitaire. "But what if you're wrong? What if—"

He silenced her by placing a finger on her lips. "Shh. Don't think like that. You're not evil, you're not a monster and you're not someone who enjoys other peoples' pain. What you are is a beautiful girl with a good heart who needs some more self-confidence."

"You… you think I'm… _mana_?" _{Beautiful}_

"Of course. _Totoka mana_, I believe is the right phrase," Solitaire said. "Don't be so hard on yourself. None of us thinks you're evil, and none of us thinks we should be afraid that you'll hurt us. Well… I'm a little afraid you might hurt **_me_**, but it's not the way you think." _{Very beautiful}_

"Why would I hurt you?"

"It hurts me when I see you cry, because I want to do whatever it takes to make you happy again. And I'm afraid that you won't be mine to make happy. I guess… I guess I'm afraid there's someone else. Someone who got there first."

He wasn't looking at her as he spoke, nor did he look at her when she replied.

"No, nobody got there first."

He turned back to her and for the first time noticed the lavender and pink streaks slipping in among the other colours. He gently touched the new colours. "What do these mean?"

Chantelle smiled. "The lavender, or any shade of purple really, means I'm happy. The pink… pink is for love."

"Love?"

"Yes. Solitaire, why didn't you just tell me how you felt before? We've known each other… all right, a week, tops, but surely you saw the signs? My hair turned pink whenever we were in the same room, I made excuses to see you. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I… I was afraid you wanted something else. Somebody else, a tough guy like Logan, a calm, in control leader like Scott. Not someone who sings and gets visions from packs of cards. Not someone who can't go out because of migraines that come every month and can last up to a week. It's happened before, Chantelle. My hometown is very tolerant of mutants, but the girls still want a guy who isn't stuck in a dark room five days out of thirty. They want a guy whose eyes they can see without sunglasses."

"And where I'm from, the guys want a girl who can't tell when they really love her or if they just want a quick lay. A girl whose hair doesn't change colour when her mood does. They want a girl who actually cares about the size of their muscles and not what's in their heart."

Chantelle reached over and took one of Solitaire's long-fingered hands in her own. "People want someone who's not different. Well, I'm different, and I want someone who's different. I want the sensitive singer. I want the guy who wears Aviators because he needs to, not because they look cool. I want him to trust me enough to let me read his emotions, because they've been closed to me until now. You're one of the only people I've met whose emotions I couldn't feel. Remy and Dreamer are the other two, because they have such strong psychic shields. I think I can't feel yours because you're afraid to let me."

"I… I don't know how."

"Let me show you how."

Chantelle extended one hand toward him, at about chest height. "Take my hand," she said. They clasped hands and Chantelle closed her eyes. "Just trust me. Think of things that you love. Things that you hate. Just let me see what's really inside you. Let me see what makes Solitaire."

At first there was nothing in the link but emptiness and fear. Then, slowly at first but growing stronger by the second, emotions and images flooded the link.

__

Solitaire kneeling in front of a small gravestone, tears falling from underneath his sunglasses. Long fingers shakily touching the carved name, 'Emily Jackson'. A single long-stemmed rose laid across the grave, tucked into the arms of a baby doll. Another long-fingered hand, this one belonging to a dark-haired older woman, placed on his shoulder. "Come on, Max. It's time to let go."

"My… my sister. She died five years ago, when I was eleven. When I was fourteen they told me I had to let go and get along on my own, without my sister. That was when I started calling myself Solitaire. Solitary enough to live."

__

Playing poker with some other boys. Touching the cards and feeling a spear of pain in his head. Images of a dark boy holding a basketball. Saying "we need another player. You wanna play?"

"TJ Rameski. The first guy to be nice to me after my powers manifested. The others weren't really nasty, but they didn't know what I could do so they were a little nervous. The folks back home were like that. They didn't care if we were mutants, they were just cautious until we figured what we could do. TJ didn't care."

__

Lying in a hospital bed, almost crying from the pain in his head, the voices outside the room obscenely loud. His mother and a doctor, discussing his migraines.

__

"It's not normal for migraines to be so frequent, Mrs. Jackson. You must prepare yourself for the worst. These headaches could be preceding a worse condition."

__

"What are you saying, doctor?"

__

"I'm saying there might be a chance your son has brain cancer. We won't know for sure until the tests come back, but frankly I can't think of another explanation for why he has such severe headaches so frequently."

"It wasn't cancer. They never did figure out why I get migraines so often. I just remember thinking that I couldn't let my mom go through that again, losing a kid. It was bad enough with Emily, I didn't want her to have to lose her son as well."

__

Another hospital bed, a white-haired woman walking into the room. Storm. Explaining who she was, even though he already knew from the cards. Voices, Storms and another girls', voices he was hearing in his head, not with his ears. A pain-filled car trip that he was only vaguely aware of, still caught in the grip of the migraine. Arriving at the mansion only slightly better, sleeping for two days until the pain in his head lessened enough for him to stomach food again.

"I barely knew where I was when I woke up. I remembered Storm and leaving Ohio, but most of the past few days was a blur. It's always like that when I have a migraine. I have to look at a newspaper or ask someone what date it is before I know how long I was out."

__

Walking into the den, seeing for the first time a tall, slender girl in a crimson gypsy skirt and hiking boots. Long purple hair that grew streaks of light pink as she looked up at him and smiled. "Hi. I'm Chantelle de Courcey."

"You were the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. That's all I remember thinking. All I could think of that night was you."

Chantelle opened her eyes. She could feel the love radiating from him, as well as uncertainty and awe at what they'd both experienced. And she could feel the truth, that for as long as he lived, Max Jackson, the telepath and visionary who called himself Solitaire, would love the empath called Chantelle de Courcey.

@@@

Sabrina sat in Damien's office, watching as he studied the one-way mirror window into the white room. He turned to her and smiled. "You put on a good act, Sabrina. And you pulled off this command with no mistakes. I'm proud of you."

"It wasn't hard. The X-Men are too naïve. They don't see that what seems straightforward can be a ruse. That we'd allow ourselves to be temporarily damaged to aid the main plan."

"True. Which is why we succeed. Tell me, Sabrina, how is Adam doing? Settling in all right?"

"He's fine," Sabrina answered, smiling. "He already established dominance over the younger mutants with lesser power. I think he's well-suited to our purposes. He knows by now that Daniel is his brother, of course, but he understands why we are against the mutants at the mansion, which I hadn't expected. I'd thought that once Adam knew Daniel was his brother he'd want to go to their side, but that's not the case at all. He honestly believes that what we're doing is the right thing and he says he won't turn his back on that for anything. But he does want to recruit his brother by whatever means necessary."

"Good. I've had my eye on Daniel, Kristin and Remy for some time, you know that," Damien said. "Of course, the man who trained them has been looking for them for even longer. His main interest lies with the boys, but if I can obtain a mutant good enough to trade he might let me keep Daniel. Or let Adam keep Daniel, whichever way you want to put it. I think I can find someone whose power will appeal to my associate's curiosity."

"So you'll allow Adam to recruit Daniel?" Sabrina asked. Damien nodded. "I don't see the harm in it. After all, brothers belong together, don't they? And it would be to our benefit to have two dreamseekers among us. From what I've been able to find out, Daniel's powers are at the same level as Adam, but they both have plenty of room to improve and apparently the man who trained Daniel, Kristin and Remy placed a little surprise in their minds."

"A surprise?"

"He implanted powers into the depths of their minds, inaccessible except by a skilled telepath. Someone like Professor Xavier. However, since I'm sure the good Professor wouldn't willingly unlock the secrets of our young friends' minds, we will have to either find a skilled enough telepath who will, or find the means of coercing the Professor," Damien said calmly, as though he was discussing the weather.

"What if Daniel can't be convinced to join us?" Sabrina asked. Damien shrugged. "We will have to use unfriendly persuasion. However, I'll leave that up to Adam. When he feels ready, if it doesn't interfere with my other plans, we can obtain his brother for him. And if we happen to obtain Kristin and Remy as well, then that will be a bonus."

"Kylie doesn't believe that Discordia will be able to pull this off," Sabrina commented. "She says that if Mystique couldn't get past Logan's nose how does Discordia expect to."

"Kylie is foolish sometimes," Damien replied. "Discordia's shapeshifting power is far beyond Mystique's. When Discordia shifts into a mutant, she acquires their power, their body, the way they walk and talk, their mannerisms and, above all, their scent. She is, for all purposes, a clone in every respect but her mind. And I fitted her mind with an overlay in case their telepaths go into her mind. All they'll find is a normal mutant mind with nothing to suggest Discordia is Discordia."

"I think she can pull it off. For however long it's needed," Sabrina said. "I've seen her shift before. When she became Rogue, she could absorb, just as the real Rogue can. She's one of the best fighters I've seen in a long time. But above all, she can take on the mannerisms of a person after watching them for ten minutes. With all the studying she did, she'll be impossible to tell from the real thing."

She stood up and walked over to the one-way window. Damien joined her and they looked down at the room's single occupant, still unconscious on the metal bed.

Sabrina smiled. "Poor baby is sure gonna be upset later on."

Damien was silent as two white-garbed nurses fitted karamantium cuffs on the prisoner's wrists and drew blood into a needle. Once the nurses had left, Damien spoke.

"Wouldn't you be upset? After all, we've done the unthinkable. We've replaced an X-Man… with a spy."

__

To be continued in Dark Rising 3: Illusion Of Innocence.

__

Well, what'd you think? Write the sequel? Leave it there and let you wonder?

__

Screw that. Sequel's getting written whether you like it or not. I'm on a roll here. By the way, Cat, you rock. Thanks for reviewing so much.

__

Anyway, tell me what you think. Is that bit with Solitaire and Chantelle a bit much? (One of my Muses likes romance. One hates it so he's trying to make me eradicate all romance, but the first Muse overruled him.)

The next fic is going to be kinda different. It's going to delve into Remy, Dreamer and Aura's past a lot, maybe some of the other characters. Kurt may find out the truth about Mystique if I can fit that into the storyline. It all depends. Tell my Muses to give me good ideas, okay?

__

Whew, this is long, isn't it? Last bit, I think. Read "Macbeth, X-Men Style"! Please! Although I'm not very nice to Xavier. Or Magneto. Or the girls. Or the guys in general. And I have a lot of canon characters even though I know jack about them so…

__

Well, thanks for reading. Review me please, and see you later in Dark Rising 3: Illusion Of Innocence.

__

—Ares


End file.
